Model for accessible parks and nature spaces going international

The Senderismo sin Limites programme was initiated by Fundacion Eres, an NGO from Chile, to ensure that hiking and natural areas can be used by people with disabilities. The programme includes training for tourism professionals, self-assessment tools, improvement plans, and single-wheeled transport vehicles.

Fundación Eres is a Chilean national DPO that initiated the programme Senderismo sin Limites (Hiking Without Limits) in 2015, ensuring that hiking and natural spaces can be accessed by all persons with disabilities. The programme incorporates training for tourism professionals, self-assessment tools, improvement plans, and single-wheel transport vehicles. It started in the Santiago metropolitan area and has since expanded to other provinces as well as to Paraguay.

Problems Targeted

People with disabilities, in particular those mobility impairments, often cannot enjoy large parts of the natural environment due to inaccessible paths and hiking routes.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Senderismo sin Limites uses multiple methods to make natural spaces more accessible to all, and currently manages 16 national and private parks and green spaces. The programme works with civil servants, tourism professionals of the National Tourism Service, and future professionals, and park rangers from the Corporación Nacional Forestal (National Forestry Corporation) have also been trained. Further, Senderismo sin Limites has designed self- assessment tools and action plans to support the improvement of tourism organizations, and has produced a single-wheel carriage to help people with mobility impairments to reach natural spaces that have poor accessibility. Senderismo sin Limites started in the Santiago metropolitan region and has been replicated in eight of Chile’s sixteen provinces as well as in Paraguay, where the practice is run by the Sendero de Chile Foundation, a local NGO.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

Senderismo sin Limites is supported by public and private funding, along with donations. The organization also generates revenues through the sale and marketing of its unicycles to tourism providers, along with charging for accessibility training. In the next few years Fundación Eres is aiming to improve accessibility in the recreation and leisure sectors, with a focus on the benefits for those with mental health conditions who have been affected by the pandemic. The model has been replicated in Paraguay, and training activities have started in Bolivia (run by the Comité Impulsor del Turismo Accesible de Bolivia) and Guatemala (organized by the Rotary Club of La Reina).

Pictures

Enjoying nature to the fullest: people with mobility impairments can experience national parks, for example in a single-wheel carriage