...at the IV. International Congress „Forest and its Potential for Health“.
The congress took place in Luso in Portugal from 7th till 9th April 2022. It was organised by iNature network, the Grande Hotel de Luso, the Forest Therapy Hub and the International Certification Office Healing Forest of the BioCon Valley® GmbH.
It was a milestone for setting an exchange based on scientific evidence for interlinking health, biodiversity and tourism as a vision for the decade. The scenic Mata do Bussaco and Luso welcomed the people and organisations interested in broadening their knowledge on nature and forests; professionals, land owners and managers; technical and research staff working in health, wellness, ecotourism and forest management; postgraduate, master's and doctoral students.
The congress was very well and professionally organised. In terms of content, the congress covered a wide range of topics from application-oriented contributions to scientific research. In addition, regional development concepts were also presented against the background of sustainable (forest) tourism.
The contributions on forest therapies from the different countries were very interesting and informative. In South Korea and Great Britain, for example, forest therapy treatments can be prescribed by the physician. However, these treatments must then be carried out by trained professional, which is in line with the concept of healing forest certification.
Accompanying research on the effectiveness of forest therapies is also carried out within the framework of the therapies. The results all indicate that therapeutic applications in the forest have a health-promoting effect. However, it is important to obtain more data to support the theses. All speakers on this topic unanimously emphasised that the effects of forest therapies need to be researched further and more comprehensively.
He introduced the certification standards and process as further developed in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Further representatives from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were Prof. Kraft from Rostock University, Dr. Lehmann from the Healing Forest Heringsdorf, Mrs. Bosselmann and Mrs. Nadler from the State Forestry Agency and Dr. Thelen from the Müritz Clinic as well as Mrs. Rösler from the Spas Association.
We are proud to have been co-organisers of this enriching congress. We thank all participants for the exciting insights into their work and look forward to future collaborations.