A record number of parks and green
spaces in Europe have won the international Green Flag Award in 2023.
Parks and green spaces in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkey were accredited
with the coveted Award - including many first-time winners.
Kurpark
Warmbad-Villach became the first park in Austria to win the Award, whilst
in Finland parks saw a more than 50%
increase in winners including Hupisaarten
kaupunginpuisto in the far northern city of Oulu.
Robert Walton, head of the
gardening team at Kurpark Warmbad-Villach said: "Winning the Green Flag Award means so much to
me and the staff that help to maintain the park. It demonstrates that we
have an inviting environment, which creates a positive benefit for our
visitors, employees and the local community.”
Câmara Municipal do Porto in Portugal leads the way in Southern Europe with
a new winner - Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (Crystal Palace Gardens), the 3rd
Award winning garden under their management for the City of Porto. And many
other European cities continue to use the Award to celebrate multiple parks or
green spaces of importance in their communities.
Photo: Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (Crystal Palace Gardens)
Nantes, the first French city to win a Green Flag Award has now held the
accolade for three years and three different sites across the city, including
the world famous Jardin des Plantes. Antwerp has an impressive seven winners in
the city region. Kotka in Finland holds five Awards, and Dublin boasts more
than 30 in the surrounding area.
Green Heritage Site Accreditation is awarded to Green Flag Award winning
sites that actively understand, identify, manage and promote the elements of
their heritage that make that site unique. This year in Europe 13 sites were
awarded with this accolade – one in Portugal and 12 in Ireland.
Ireland's passion for people power is evident in 17 community managed sites
winning Green Flag Community Award. On top of this, 84 parks and green spaces
in Ireland won a Green Flag Award, recognising the hard work of local
authorities and parks management organisations.
Emlyn Cullen, Programme Manager for
An Taisce Environmental Education Unit, who run the Award in Ireland said:
"The continued success of the
Green Flag Award is due to the love that staff members have for their parks,
and the hard work they put in to maintaining them. They do a phenomenal job
every day making their parks beautiful, safe spaces for the public to
enjoy."
The Green Flag Award is the international quality benchmark for the public
green space sector - now operating in 17 countries around the world. Running
for over 25 years, the programme uses eight key criteria headings to for
assessments. Both the management framework for each site, as well as an annual
condition inspection is conducted through a network of qualified judges. So far
in the past twelve months over 2,400 sites have received annual accreditation.
In July, the UK - where the programme originated, announced a record
breaking 2,216 winners this year. More winners in Australia, Mexico, New
Zealand, USA and the United Arab Emirates will be announced later in 2023.
Carl McClean, International Development Manager for the Green Flag Award
said: “Well done to every single person
involved in managing, maintaining, supporting, or volunteering at one of these
Green Flag Award winning places. This Award recognises your hard work and
commitment all throughout the year.”
“It’s fantastic to see so many European
parks achieve well-deserved international recognition with a Green Flag Award.
Parks continue to benefit both people and planet in so many different ways, and
the sector deserves recognition for making that possible.”
For an interactive global map of current winners, visit: https://www.greenflagaward.org/award-winners/
