Creating resilient and climate-ready communities depends on parks and recreation.

Park and recreation professionals are champions in addressing our most pressing environmental challenges; the parks and open spaces they manage maximize the benefits of nature to achieve positive and equitable health and economic impacts at the community level.

We must ensure all people benefit from parks and open spaces that are not only resilient and regenerative, but also transformative at the community level. Park and recreation professionals are one of the largest land managers in the nation and are key to climate change solutions.

Rising global temperatures are causing major physical, chemical and ecological changes for the planet. These changes, collectively referred to as climate change, are primarily driven by human activities that create excess amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in the air and is impacting our environment, health and economy. Park and recreation professionals, who serve nearly every community in the United States, are essential in combating the causes and impacts of climate change. They provide critical green spaces in communities that connect people to the outdoors and create healthy places that support the plants and animals that are beneficial to our environment.  

As leaders in building community resilience, park and recreation professionals connect community members to environmental programming, ensure healthy ecosystems, advocate for the benefits of nature and implement sustainability practices. These efforts must focus on communities most impacted by poor environmental conditions and the effects of climate change, including people of color and people living in low-income communities, and invest in efforts that support holistic community resiliency.  

NRPA commits to investing in and evaluating local solutions, building strategic partnerships, developing resources and best practices, advancing policy change, enhancing professional development opportunities, and lifting up stories that support the development of climate-ready parks and help park and recreation professionals realize their full potential as local innovators and champions in building resilient communities.

Building Community Resiliency Through Parks and Recreation

NRPA supports park and recreation professionals to build community resiliency. Below are a few examples of how we have supported community resiliency.