Green Hive in Nairn and Trees For Life in Dundreggan among ten community projects to benefit from British Science Association (BSA) Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Grant scheme
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TWO Inverness-shire-based green charities will be among ten Highland projects to receive funding from a British institute to work on local climate-change issues.
The Green Hive, run by Nairn River Enterprise, and the rewildig charity Trees for Life, based in Dundreggan, will be the succesful recipients of The Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Grant, run by the British Science Association (BSA)
Funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the scheme has awarded funding of up to £4,500 to support community groups in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to work with a researcher to run a project on a local climate issue.
Speaking about the high quality of the funded projects, panel member Dr Stephanie Strother from the University of Highlands of Islands said, “The funded portfolio represents the exceptional level of engagement, creativity and enthusiasm community groups have towards climate change issues across the Highlands and Islands. This involves communities just starting their climate change/sustainability journeys to established groups looking to develop community-led action research.”
The Green Hive charity will work with a researcher on their Carbon Impact Project, to better understand the evidence of the positive local impact they can have on the local environment, as well as community cohesion.
Trees for Life’s mission to rewild the Scottish Highlands for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive have instead received funding for their Green Leadership Awards project. The scheme will establish a Changemakers programme for their Affric Highlands initiative to recognise the collaborative effort required between nature, local people and local businesses to create a sustainable future for the Affric Highlands locality.
Among the other winners of the grant were the Fair Isle Marine Research Organisation (FIMRO) and Cothrom, a community learning and development organisation based at Ormiclate on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, as well as the Knoydart Foundation and the GRAB Trust in Oban.
Kate Orchard, Head of Community Engagement at the British Science Association, said: “It has been a real pleasure finding out more about the communities and people involved in these fantastic projects in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. The ten selected projects will offer a fruitful collaboration with their research partners.
“When developing this grant scheme with UKRI late last year, we explored two questions: ‘How could we enable communities to make a local difference building on the momentum from COP26?’ and ‘How could we support community groups in the Highlands and Islands to explore local action on climate change through connecting them with a researcher?’. These ten projects will offer some fantastic examples of how to answer these two questions.”
The projects will run through until October 2022 and have been selected following a competitive submission process, which saw over 30 organisations put themselves forward for the new scheme.
The ten projects were selected by a panel of engagement specialists and local experts, including: Helen Featherstone, an independent public engagement consultant and head of public engagement at the University of Bath; Inga Burton, university engagement manager at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE); Simon Hart, Taigh Chearsabhagh and Làn Thìde; Anja Johnston, Highland Council youth convener; Sarah Skerratt, professor of rural society and policy and director of programmes at Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE); and Stephanie Strother, energy knowledge exchange Coordinator, Environmental Research Institute, University of Highlands and Islands (UHI).
Mr Hart said: "I am very impressed with the range of projects funded, as well as the enthusiasm and commitment of the groups involved as they seek to develop sustainable and imaginative ways to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change in their local areas. This brilliant funding scheme helps to empower people, providing them with resources to start to create meaningful interventions and change in and with their own communities."
