Freshwater blue space and population health: an emerging research agenda

McDougall, C., Quilliam, R., Hanley, N. and Oliver, D. (2020) Freshwater blue space and population health: an emerging research agenda. Science of the Total Environment, 737, 140196. (doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140196) (PMID:32783838)

Abstract

Growing evidence suggests that access and exposure to water bodies or blue spaces can provide a variety of health and well-being benefits. Attempts to quantify these ‘blue-health’ benefits have largely focused on coastal environments, with freshwater blue spaces receiving far less attention despite over 50% of the global population living within 3 km of a body of freshwater and populations living in landlocked areas having limited coastal access. This critical review identifies opportunities to improve our understanding of the relationship between freshwater blue space and health and well-being and outlines key recommendations to broaden the portfolio of emerging research needs associated with the field of blue-health. Recognising fundamental distinctions in relationships between health outcomes and access and exposure to freshwater versus coastal blue space is critical and further research is required to determine the mechanisms that link exposure to freshwater blue space with tangible health outcomes and to understand how such mechanisms vary across a range of freshwater environments. Furthermore, methodological improvements are necessary as spatial approaches adopted to quantify access and exposure to freshwater blue space often fails to account for the unique physical characteristics of freshwater and come with a variety of limitations. Based on the findings of this review, a suite of research needs are proposed, which can be categorised into three broad themes: (i) establishing a freshwater blue-health methodological framework; (ii) advancing the empirical freshwater blue-health evidence base; and (iii) promoting freshwater blue-health opportunities. When taken together, these research themes offer opportunities to advance current understanding and better integrate freshwater blue space into the wider nature-health research agenda.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The Scottish Government Hydro Nation Scholars Programme provided funding to support this work.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hanley, Professor Nicholas
• Authors: McDougall, C., Quilliam, R., Hanley, N., and Oliver, D.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Science of the Total Environment
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0048-9697
• ISSN (Online): 1879-1026
• Published Online: 15 June 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Crown Copyright
• First Published: First published in Science of the Total Environment 737: 140196
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy