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Karim Abu-Omar’s keynote presentation on “grassroots sports and planetary health” led the way for a full day of conversations around sustainability in sport at the MOVE Congress 2023 on 16 November, which continued through a dynamic panel with leaders in the sector and a hands-on workshop to practice what was learned. The world is facing a climate crisis of great dimensions, but there are still great tools at hand to tackle it, and grassroots sport could be one of the most powerful.

“Let’s have a look at our planet!” With that invite, Karim Abu-Omar, lecturer at the Department of Sports Science and Sport at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), opened his presentation, walking the audience through staggering data about the current state of the global climate crisis. From record-setting temperatures to peak carbon emissions, Abu-Omar stressed that evidence shows that the situation asks for urgent action, and sport plays a crucial part in it.

The climate crisis directly impacts the practice of sports, but it is also heavily impacted by it. Construction and maintenance of sport facilities, production of clothing and equipment, transportation to and from sport venues, and waste at sporting events are some examples of how both elite and grassroots sports can harm the environment. On the other hand, they can also serve as agents of positive change, collaborating for better planetary health.

Planetary health and grassroots sport
While pointing out the vicious cycle nature of the relationship between sport and the environment, Abu-Omar proposed a shift in the concept of health to adopt a holistic perspective that encompasses the individual, population, and planetary aspects. This means prioritising what is good for both the people and the planet in different areas involving the practice and business of sport. Even, and maybe especially, grassroots sport.

“When we look at the total carbon emissions, grassroots sports still have a significant impact,” said Karim Abu-Omar when asked whether the focus of climate action should be placed on elite sports instead. According to Abu-Omar, there is a great need to bring carbon emissions down across all sectors of society and sport, and to achieve that, it is fundamental to consider the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Sport and exercise can make a difference and contribute to the SDGs if we integrate them with our thinking and promote paradigm shifts”.

Abu-Omar listed a few ways in which sport can do that, which include combining the promotion of sport and exercise with the promotion of planetary health, raising awareness and educating people about the climate crisis, and incorporating it into day-to-day and practical solutions. These, in turn, can mean greener sports facilities, less travel, promotion of greener sports over the ones which are more harmful to the environment, and prioritising seasonal sports. “Even a checklist to help make exercise classes more climate-friendly is a good start,” he encourages.

Embedding environmental sustainability in sport organisations’ DNA
Later on the same day, Abu-Omar was joined by moderator Daniel Cade, Consultant and Educator at Responsible Sport, Réka Veress, Project Manager at Budapest Sport Service Provider Nonprofit, Rocio Ruiz-Berdejo, Sustainability Actions Coordinator of Forever Green/Real Betis Balompié, and Oliver Vanges, Development Specialist in LOA’s Team Sports for a panel session to discuss how to incorporate sustainability to sport organisation’s core and its every decision.

“To get there, we need to shake up the agenda. No business as usual. We need to be flexible as a sector, rethink and find other ways to achieve our goals,” Oliver Vanges affirmed.

The debate was enriched by real-life examples from the speakers and audience participation. It nodded to Karim Abu-Omar’s keynote as the conversation circled back to some of the concepts he had touched on. The participants highlighted the importance of educating people, promoting sustainability literacy, and democratising access to scientific knowledge so it can be used to transform the thinking of the sector. Words such as rethinking and reinventing surfaced again, reaffirming that it will take a few steps back to be able to move forward together towards more sustainable sports and better planetary health.

To protect the future of both sports and the planet, urgent action is fundamental, since “there is no grassroots sport on a dead planet”, as stated by Abu-Omar. The good news for the grassroots sport sector is that it can also be a part of the solution and not only work to secure its own future existence, but also to raise awareness and action that extend beyond sport. It is time for sport to claim and use its power in favour of a healthier planet.

Borrowing Daniel Cade’s words quoting the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we close on an encouraging note: “So much of human progress has been the result of people power. The key is not to give up hope. You can make a difference.”
By Heloisa Souza
<MOVE Congress 2023/>

Karim Abu-Omar’s keynote presentation on “grassroots sports and planetary health” led the way for a full day of conversations around sustainability in sport at the MOVE Congress 2023 on 16 November, which continued through a dynamic panel with leaders in the sector and a hands-on workshop to practice what was learned. The world is facing a climate crisis of great dimensions, but there are still great tools at hand to tackle it, and grassroots sport could be one of the

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The African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” provided a framework for the MOVE Congress panel discussion on 16 November that added the keywords “health and happy” to the title. Both the original and extended phrase encapsulate the idea that a child's wellbeing and development are influenced by a community that is much broader than their immediate family. This concept emphasises the collective responsibility of society in supporting children to grow into happy, healthy individuals.  The village represents

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“If you have a body and you have physical health, then you have a mind, so you also have mental health – congratulations!” Et voilà! It sounds so absurdly obvious the way MOVE Congress keynote speaker Dominique de Marné put it in her presentation ‘Why mental health rocks!”. In reality, it’s far from obvious to many people that physical and mental health are equal parts of a whole. That’s why de Marné, the founder of the Mental Health Crowd GmbH, author

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The opening of the world’s most active conference for physical activity experts, the MOVE Congress, turned into a Spanish tablao on the evening of 15 November in Madrid, with an interactive flamenco performance putting the plenary room of almost 400 delegates from 50 countries into the action. The 11th edition of the MOVE Congress is called Level up. Shape up. Power up. And what better way to power up the stage ready for 52 speakers from five continents who will

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This year’s winners of the ISCA Awards recognising and celebrating outstanding initiatives and role models in the field of Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) have been revealed at the opening of the MOVE Congress in Madrid, Spain. The 12 shortlisted nominees travelled from three continents to attend the ceremony, after having been selected for their stand-out applications among 55 eligible organisations and individuals nominated.  Brazilian organisation Luta pela Paz won the Physical Activity and Mental Health Award; Youth Sport Trust UK’s Move

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The ISCA team is so excited to welcome all participants tomorrow to Madrid for the MOVE Congress 2023! If you haven't downloaded the MOVE Congress event App, we would kindly encourage you to do it before you arrive at the Congress! We will use the App to inform you about all important announcements - you can keep an eye your schedule, network with other participants and engage in the discussions! P.S Make sure that your profile is turned on to be

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The MOVE Congress 2023 promises to be as diverse and exciting as ever before – our final line-up includes 52 speakers from 24 countries across five continents. The Director of the Office of the Spanish High Commissioner Against Child Poverty, Albert Arcarons Feixas, and the Colombian Minster for Sport, Astrid Rodriguez, will join ISCA President Mogens Kirkeby to open the MOVE Congress on Wednesday 15 November. And a few more numbers before the whole ISCA team and our network dive into

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ISCA established the MOVE Congress 14 years ago to gather our members, project partners and wider network, including experts from the non-profit sport and physical activity sector, health, urban planning and education, all in one place for some seriously active networking! Now we’re ready to get this show on the road again – we’re looking forward to welcoming almost 400 international delegates in Madrid next week. How has our signature conference evolved since 2009? Here are some of the features of the

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MOVE Congress Workshop Friday 17 November 2023: 11.45-13.15 CET Room: Zaragoza (4th floor) Facilitators: Lucy Mills, Ready Sport Global; Markus Schwaiger, Austria Guides; Julia Lisewska, International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) Designed especially for beginners, this interactive and informative peer-to-peer workshop will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can benefit small non-profit organisations, as we put AI to the test on a “real-life” example project that encourages people to move. It promises to be a unique session that combines a keynote from AI and community

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MOVE Congress Debate Friday 17 November 2023: 9.45-11.15 CET Room: Zaragoza (4th floor) Moderator: Sjaak Kuil, H20 Esports and Go!Gaming, the Netherlands Panellists: Matthijs Vink, H20 Esports and Go!Gaming; Viktória Anna Kovács, Hungarian Country Office of the World Health Organization (WHO); Mads Arnborg Didriksen, Esports consultant at DGI, Denmark; Patrik Katona External Expert at the Hungarian Esports Federation (HUNESZ). Esports are often perceived as individualised and home-based activities, whether this involves the individual player or spectator of elite esports. In between these two images lies

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The MOVE Congress 2023 is a global conference organised by the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA). This will be the 11th edition of ISCA’s MOVE Congress, which has previously been held in Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Paris, Sao Paulo, Barcelona, Rome, Birmingham, Budapest and Brussels.

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