European Greenways present at THE PEP/EHP Partnership on Healthy and Active Mobility meeting in Madrid 26-27 October.

 EGWA has presented good practices of greenways, linked to active mobility in Europe, at the expert meeting.

The meeting of THE PEP / EHP Partnership on Healthy Active Mobility, was focus on cycling. Hosted by the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

 

In her presentation, the director of the EGWA addressed three lines of action on which the association is working.

• The first of these is linked to the green transition of tourism. In this line, examples of greenways and sustainable (active) mobility from Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Germany, and Italy, all of which have been recognised with the European Greenways Award, were presented.

These examples are part of the commitments (“Pledges”) of the EGWA concerning the co-implementation of the transition pathway for tourism “Together for EU Tourism”  in which the European Association participates. The aim is to disseminate good practices that showcase success stories, which can inspire new examples based on these initiatives and contribute to the transformation of tourism.

• A second block included different examples from the HANDBOOK: 7 cases of successful sport activities in greenways, implemented in Austria, Slovakia, Belgium and Italy. All of them linked to cycling, which was the objective of this session, and which were collected in the framework of the SIGWAY Sport in Greenways project. EGWA participates in this European project, has led the research, guiding the project partners in identifying best practices on sport and physical activity on greenways.
• To conclude the presentation, she referred to the ex-post impact evaluation of the OurWay project in Podkarpackie (Poland), which has made great progress in its cycling and greenway policy, applying solutions learned in this Interreg Europe project. OurWay ended a year ago and EGWA was the advisory partner of the project.

In short, all of them are examples of different typology, dimension and local conditions, which show the great interest of greenways and non-motorised itineraries for active mobility, by bike, walking, or wheeling, and the opportunities for action from different public entities and collectives.

With its dissemination in different relevant forums, linked to infrastructure, tourism, health, such as the PEP/EHP Partnership on Healthy and Active Mobility, EGWA aims to contribute to the further development of greenways and non-motorised infrastructures in Europe.

>> See presentation here   

THE PEP / EHP Partnership on Healthy Active Mobility builds on and expands THE PEP Partnership on Active Mobility with the objective to strengthen the health focus and the involvement of the health sector along with finding synergies between relevant activities within the EHP (Environment and Health Process) and THE PEP.
At the 5th high-level meeting on Transport Health Environment in Vienna 2021 the ministers adopted the Vienna declaration and with it the first pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion – a major milestone for the promotion of cycling on the pan-European level.

Further info:

>> THE PEP 

>> EHP (Environment and Health Process)

Mercedes Muñoz
European Greenways Association, Director

03/November/2023