Last week, we joined Climate Hubs from across Scotland in Stirling to share experiences, exchange ideas and explore how Climate Hubs can better support local communities.
It was great to hear about the work happening across Scotland, with lots of interesting conversations, shared experiences and new connections sparking ideas for what we could do together. One theme that clearly emerged throughout the day was resilience: how communities can prepare for the challenges of a changing climate, and the role Climate Hubs can play in supporting this work alongside local authorities, community groups and other organisers.
Supporting community resilience in Edinburgh
Across Edinburgh, community groups and organisations are already doing a huge amount of work that contributes to local resilience, often without necessarily describing it in those terms.
Through our Greenlight grants and other partnerships, ECCAN is supporting a range of projects that strengthen communities in different ways.
Food resilience: Community gardens, food-growing projects, food preservation workshops and initiatives helping people grow food at home are building local skills, knowledge and access to food.
Energy resilience: Projects developing local renewable energy, including solar panels on community buildings, alongside initiatives helping communities access affordable warmth and improve energy efficiency.
Ecological resilience: Projects improving Edinburgh’s parks and greenspaces, restoring habitats and supporting biodiversity, helping create healthier environments that are better equipped to cope with a changing climate.
While these projects have different aims, they share something important. They’re working to build local knowledge, practical skills, shared resources and stronger connections between people, all of which contribute to more resilient communities.
Connecting climate action and community resilience
The gathering highlighted opportunities to make stronger connections between climate action and wider approaches to community resilience.
When we think about preparing for emergencies or disruptions, the focus is often on individual preparedness, from stockpiling essentials to putting together emergency kits. While these measures have their place, we can’t simply ‘shop our way into resilience’. Building resilience also means investing in the relationships, skills and shared resources that help communities support one another.
Much of what makes a community resilient comes from the relationships, resources and skills we share, and our ability to work together when challenges arise - and this is where community-led climate action has a fundamental role to play.
Across Edinburgh, there are opportunities to connect existing climate initiatives with wider resilience planning. This could mean integrating climate adaptation into Local Place Plans, supporting communities to adapt outdoor spaces to flooding and extreme heat, or strengthening neighbourhood networks and access to shared resources.
As Edinburgh’s Climate Hub, we’d like to explore how ECCAN can help make these connections, bringing together community groups, local authorities and other organisations to share experiences, identify gaps and develop practical approaches to building resilience across the city.
Community resilience is climate action, and climate resilience needs community action.
Get involved: Building community resilience together
We’d love to hear from community groups and organisations across Edinburgh who are already working on resilience, or are interested in exploring how climate action could help strengthen their local communities. Please get in touch with us to share your ideas, experiences or opportunities for collaboration.
Want to further your understanding of community-led climate resilience?
SCCAN is currently running a series of weekly sessions exploring different aspects of community resilience and how we can better prepare for future challenges through local action. These are a great opportunity to learn more, have your questions answered and connect with others working on resilience across Scotland.
Explore these sessions, and other relevant events from across the network on our Events List.
