Landscape Statement – Vision

Climate FORTH aims to make the following differences for local heritage, people and place by working in targeted locations within the Inner Forth’s four local authority areas and 215 km² landscape, sharing our findings to inspire further action:

• The Inner Forth’s heritage is valued and has inspired action to meet Scotland’s net zero climate targets and made positive economic and societal change.
• The Inner Forth’s natural and built heritage assets have an increased resilience to societal and climatic change.
• People and places within the Inner Forth have an increased resilience to change, as a result of heritage supporting the economy, healthy lifestyles, sustainable choices and a just transition.

 Climate FORTH aims to trial, pilot and promote new approaches that have not been tested in this area or used to address this challenge.

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How does this project deliver the principles of the charter?

1. Collaboration

Climate FORTH reflects the collective needs identified by IFF to work with and through new stakeholders, experts, and supporters to address the most pressing issues affecting the Inner Forth.

Through collaboration and co-creation, pilot schemes are exploring how new adaptive responses to change can safeguard, sustain and re-purpose our unique natural, cultural and built heritage assets. We will ensure that adapting to change in the Inner Forth is part of a just transition and we hold at the core of this project, the aim to support our most at-risk communities. Pilot activities will be carried out with the support of our partners and we will work collaboratively with community groups, individuals, young people and businesses. In all connections made, the Climate FORTH project will look to build positive, respectful and productive relationships that will outlast the project and benefit communities and heritage for future generations.

The project’s purpose is to discover whether there are tools and techniques that have not previously been used in this area that can help local communities, organisations and stakeholders to take more action and to engage more people in action that tackles climate change and responds to the effects climate change will have on them.

We believe in the importance of strong communication and strive to achieve the above through targeted, high-quality communications and events to reach a wide audience.

We will share learning from the pilots, influence adaptation and promote transition to a climate-ready place, by providing or facilitating quality experiences and information aligned with Climate FORTH objectives.

2. Dynamism

Climate FORTH is designed to test, pilot and share learning. The project area is large and the scale of the problem faced is significant, so no claim is made that Climate FORTH will be able to implement adaption and mitigation measures across the whole project area. The aim is to trial, pilot and promote new approaches that have not been tested in this place or used to address this challenge.

Several activities will drive action on climate change adaptation / mitigation, through supporting new approaches to managing and using heritage assets, working with local communities or asset owners / managers.

Training will increase the number of groundwork operatives who are skilled and confident in undertaking habitat management with a focus on climate adaptation / mitigation.

Our Virtual Reality work will be used to highlight the impact of climate change, specifically flooding, to raise awareness and prompt discussions / actions on adaptation.

We are carrying out heritage adaptation work including new windows at a well-used historic building to increase energy efficiency, consolidating a historic structure and increasing resilience of two natural green spaces.

The learning from the project will be shared during project delivery. This is a crucial part of the project that will inspire and inform other individuals, communities and organisations to act.

To make this piloting approach effective, activities will be delivered in specific and targeted locations allowing us to balance the level of impact from the capital investment with the number of people engaged directly in the activity and the ability to maximise learning from the project.

3. Diversity

Our Community Heritage Group Training and Mentoring will facilitate and demonstrate how enabling community action can support the transition to a climate resilient landscape. By supporting groups who manage natural or historic heritage assets to consider what ‘carbon net zero’ may mean for their site(s), it will enable and inspire action to meet Scotland’s net zero climate change targets. This pilot will focus on the skills and knowledge required to ensure community groups can deliver management that will allow their sites to adapt to the likely impacts of climate change. Climate FORTH’s Local Resilience Plans & Participatory Budget work is moving onto delivery of outputs. The communities involved have a strong sense of identity and history, with their heritage assets playing a fundamental role. To date, all four community groups and wider community have positively engaged with consultation and voting on improvements and adaptation to locally important heritage. Outputs chosen by the communities include heat pump installation, improved heating systems and improved community garden resources. We will support these communities in tendering for works and applying for additional funding, providing them with skills and knowledge to repeat this process independently in future. We recognise the importance of and will give a voice to young people. We have begun a Young Leaders programme, where Inner Forth young people will develop their knowledge about heritage, better enabling them to make decisions about its future. Additionally, we are finalising an online platform where young people can learn green skills and related employment opportunities.

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What's Next

The project will have a management and maintenance period of 5 years post October 2026.

Activities of Climate FORTH are developed with a strong legacy component in mind – with elements included to ensure activities persist beyond October 2026 and/or lessons learned are shared widely for other projects / initiatives to utilise or replicate.

More about this project

Image Credits:

Inner Forth Futures and Climate FORTH