Fife Climate Action Community Mapping

Fife Climate Action Community Mapping

Let’s support climate change action in Fife together! To support our community and connect with organisations of all stripes focussed on climate action across Fife, please complete our 10-minute questionnaire.

No group is too small to participate, and we want to hear from groups of all backgrounds: youth groups, sports clubs, faith groups, equalities groups, community halls, anchor organisations, arts groups and community councils, and any other type of community group.

What’s in it for me?

Joining the Fife Climate Hub is absolutely free, and as a member, you’ll gain access to a wealth of benefits, including:

• Free activities and support to help you maximise your impact
• Networking opportunities with other likeminded people in Fife
• A platform to share your ideas and collaborate on exciting new initiatives
• Recognition and visibility for your work in supporting climate change action

What’s this all about?

We want to hear from you if your group is:

1. Already engaged in climate action.
2. Planning to be engaged in climate action.
3. Just at the start of thinking about how to be involved in climate action.

By climate action we mean: “any action that promotes low carbon living, builds community resilience, helps to protect and restore the natural environment.” But if the work you are doing doesn’t quote this definition, we still want to hear from you!

The project aims to identify the location, activities and plans of community groups of all varieties and types with a shared interest in this agenda, whether climate action is their core focus or just one strand of activity among many.

The purpose of this project is to create a comprehensive map of community groups and their activities to better understand the current context and to facilitate connections between groups with similar interests. The research report will be made publicly available and the contact database that we develop will form the basis of future work of the emerging Climate Hub here in Fife.

We will also be organising networking and collaborative info-sharing events over the summer (online and in-person) that we would love you to be part of: more info coming soon.

Please take just 10 minutes of your time to complete our survey so you can meet with like-minded people across the region, access practical resources and gain funding opportunities. See also: Information sheet – how we will use your data.

What is the emerging Climate Action Hub?

Led by Fife Communities Climate Action Network (FCCAN), Fife Climate Action Hub aims to increase people’s understanding of how the climate emergency could affect their local area, and what they can do to avoid it. The Hub will enable local communities, who play a crucial role in achieving national climate change targets, to tackle the climate emergency.

Fife Climate Action Hub will coordinate, enable and support communities to take practical action and to enable them to drive wider behaviour change. The Hub will work directly and collaboratively with community groups that may well have a wide reach but do not necessarily have a climate agenda. These could be youth groups, sports clubs, faith groups, charities, arts groups, and community councils. While some groups are already taking action together to tackle the climate emergency, many others have limited awareness of the problem. The Hub will engage with them at all stages of their journey ensuring no groups are left behind.

The Hub will lead and support communities to make climate change part of their agenda. The Hub will also use its influence to identify and signpost sources of funding to support community groups in taking action and will provide an important opportunity to influence policy at local, Scottish and UK levels.

The Hub will work with other existing support networks, such as Fife Voluntary Action, employing four members of staff to carry out its work. An initial mapping exercise will establish who are the active and influential groups in Fife communities and the extent to which climate action forms part of their agenda. The Hub will identify cross-sector opportunities to bring local groups together and to engage in collaborative projects. The Hub will facilitate greater ‘climate literacy’ of key decision makers such as Community Councils, breaking down the barrier of lack of knowledge to taking action.

The project plan extends to March 2024 and in that time, the Hub will involve more than 3,000 people across Fife, through their community groups, in a programme of events, training and support.

While there may be an extension of funding, it is important to make full use of the funding opportunity to develop an infrastructure that will last. We don’t have the luxury of time! To address the crisis, climate action needs to become everyone’s business. That’s why Fife Climate Action Hub will reach well beyond the people and communities who are already engaged.

Fife Climate Action Hub is one of the networks of regional community action hubs funded by the Scottish Government to provide a strategic response to the climate crisis. Two pathfinder projects, one in Northeast Scotland and one in Highlands and Islands, have demonstrated the effectiveness of such a regional approach. The hubs have established themselves as key coordinators in their local areas, putting communities at the heart of tackling climate change. Following these successes, Fife Climate Action Hub will be the first of a new network of climate hubs across Scotland.

The project aims to support the following:

• People taking part in hub activities
• Groups and organisations supported by the hub
• Equalities groups supported
• New projects started up with hub support
• People taking part in training
• Climate Champion volunteers supported

Photo by Shane Rounce