Connection to nature

Enivornment and climate

Connection to nature

There is a strong link between our access to green spaces/waterways and improvements in both physical and mental wellbeing.

Use of green spaces - visitation

This measure shows monthly numbers of pedestrians and cyclists who visited nature reserves or used trails at five selected locations in the ACT.

Natural environments enhance our wellbeing. Canberra is home to beautiful parks and reserves and forests dotted throughout the Territory, making access easy for our community. This is what defines us as the ‘bush capital'.

Visitor surveys consistently show that the vast majority of park visitors (>91%) agree/strongly agree that ACT parks, reserves and plantations meet their needs for ‘better health and wellbeing’.

There has been a slight downward trend in visitor numbers in the past year. Some of this can be attributed to the consistent increase in international travel after the removal of COVID-19 related travel restrictions in February 2022.

Parks and Conservation Traffic Counters data: Publicly available website (ACT Open Data Portal dataACT).

Line graph of number of monthly visitors to green spaces in the ACT between June 2023 and April 2025. In April 2025,14,850 people visited nature reserves or used trails compared to 15,490 in April 2024.

Cumulative total (monthly and yearly) of visitors (pedestrians and cyclists), recorded through automatic track counters plus manual entries at selected 5 locations:

  • Centenary Trail - Black Mountain
  • Centenary Trail - Hall
  • Centenary Trail - Kambah Pool
  • Centenary Trail - Little Mulligans
  • Centenary Trail - Mt Ainslie - War Memorial.

Use of green spaces - self reported

This measure shows the proportion of adult Canberrans who spend time walking in their local streets or a nature reserve in a typical week.

The proportion of people who report spending time in green spaces has fallen overall in recent years - in 2024, it was 64.1%, down from 80.6% in 2023.

People less likely to report walking in nature at least once a week include those with a restrictive disability and who speak a language other than English at home.

Data for this indicator are sourced from the University of Canberra Living well in the ACT Region survey. Detailed survey data, survey user guide and published reports from the survey can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans who spent time walking outside in their local area in a typical week between 2019 and 2024. In 2024, 64.1% reported that they walk outside in their local area compared to 80.6% in 2023.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing and resilience of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing and resilience at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability. Not all differences over time or between groups are statistically significant: information on confidence intervals for the data presented here is available in data tables that can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting regionalwellbeing@canberra.edu.au.