Nature and Climate: Putting communities first to take climate action

  1. Key initiatives
  2. Nature and Climate: Putting communities first to take climate action

This is an old blog. The funding has now closed.

The Climate Action Fund recently closed to applications with a focus on nature and climate. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the interconnection between society, economy, and the natural world. This presents a huge and relatively untapped opportunity for communities to play a central role in working with nature to address the causes and consequences of climate change.

Why we focused on nature and climate

The UK has lost a lot of its natural environment to human activity – more than most other countries in the world. It currently ranks 189th in the world for biodiversity. These effects are often felt hardest in some of our most deprived communities.

Described as a ‘silent killer’, biodiversity loss receives less media attention than global warming despite its greater impact. News coverage focuses on the devastating effects of floods, droughts, and fires; yet biodiversity loss has longer-term implications for the future of our planet.

Three quarters of the Earth’s wetlands have been lost since the start of the industrial revolution, and there has been a 68% decline in the world’s population of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish over the last 50 years.

The climate and nature emergencies are closely connected. Projects focused on nature offer effective ways of protecting, restoring, and managing ecosystems while also addressing climate change and loss of biodiversity. But, just as importantly, such projects can also deliver many benefits to local people, including the potential to boost employment and teach people new skills, supporting communities to seize opportunities generated by the transition to the green economy.

This human element is important when designing new projects. Better access to nature has a significant effect on our health and wellbeing. In a recent study by RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), 63% of people said watching and hearing the birds added to their enjoyment of life since the onset of COVID-19. Spending time in nature has a wide range of proven health and wellbeing benefits that include improved sleep, a reduction in anxiety and depression, lower blood pressure and reduced stress levels.

While nature may appear accessible to us all, Public Health England's 2020 review found that older people, those in poor health, people of lower socioeconomic status, those with a physical disability, ethnic minorities, and people living in deprived areas were all less likely to visit green spaces. During the pandemic, 73% of children from lower income households spent less time outdoors compared to 57% in higher income households (Natural England).

Types of projects we funded

We were interested in providing National Lottery funding to projects that use nature to encourage community-led climate action in the places we live and work, and that can bring other important social and economic benefits, such as improved health across communities or the development of ‘green’ skills or jobs.

We were particularly looking to identify and support projects that will inspire communities to take climate action and:

  • Have the potential to scale and grow
  • Engage with people from different levels of their ecosystem (communities, private sector, academia, media, policy and practice) to create conditions for systemic change
  • Use stories or creative approaches to respond to climate change through nature
  • Test new narratives around nature to promote behaviour change and engage with new audiences who are not engaging in climate action
  • Demonstrate their environmental and carbon impact
  • Have a strong appetite and attitude towards sharing learning and connecting with others to share practice and collaborate

We want to fund community-led partnerships designed, involving, and delivered by local people who understand what is needed in their local area. We were looking to support UK-wide partnerships delivered across at least two UK countries.

Projects should have clear plans that address participation barriers for under-represented people and communities. They should aim to engage the public, including those who are not already taking climate action.

We also want to fund some projects led by people and communities more adversely affected by climate change, for example, communities that live in flood-risk areas.

In urban areas, projects that construct green roofs, plant trees, restore hedges, improve flood management, or establish sustainable drainage are considered relevant. Projects that restore wetlands, reinvigorate saltmarshes, or revive the habitats of our declining species can also make a big contribution.

Read the full criteria for the programme and find out how to apply

Examples of projects that focus on nature

The following projects, some funded thanks to National Lottery players and others not, offer inspiration for communities thinking about applying to the Climate Action Fund programme. We are also open to hearing about new ideas and approaches to community, climate, and nature.

Using nature to address growing climate problems: Communities Prepared, a National Lottery funded project, is a national community resilience programme that equips Community Emergency Volunteer (CEV) and Flood Warden groups with the knowledge and confidence to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a range of emergencies, from flooding and severe weather incidents to pandemics.

In the South Downs, Ouse Valley CARES (Climate Action, Resilient Ecosystems and Sustainability) have been using National Lottery funding to seek to implement natural solutions to sequester carbon and ‘make space for water’ in the Ouse catchment area, helping reduce flood risk and improve drought resilience; connect habitats, improve water quality, boost green space, and build education.

Exploring food producing systems that are less damaging to nature: Based in the Isle of Skye, National Lottery funded project Climavore has created a platform that brings together all levels of the ecosystem. Climavore collaborates with experts in several fields, from ecology, marine biology, agronomy, nutrition, and engineering to local farmers, fisherfolk, historians and schoolchildren to promote alternative and regenerative coastal food systems.

Zero Carbon Guildford are trialling vertical farming methods in the town centre, working together with the local farmers’ market and other partners to showcase local food production and move towards local ‘food sovereignty’.

Creating new, accessible natural spaces in the places we live and work: Backyard Nature inspires children and families to help plants and animals thrive on their own patch of nature – whether they live in the heart of a city or the middle of the countryside.

The Wildflower Alleys in the Heart of Belfast was a community-led response to tackling the high pollution and crime rates locally by transforming the backstreets of their neighbourhoods into thriving urban wildflower gardens.

Encouraging environmental awareness by increasing outdoor learning opportunities: Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the My School, My Planet pilot programme used outdoor learning to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to re-engage with learning following the first COVID-19 lockdown. The programme encouraged a greater connection for pupils with their natural heritage and climate change.

In West Yorkshire, The Growing Resilience programme led by Calderdale Council and funded thanks to National Lottery players is focused on working with rural communities to deliver sustainable land management and to grow sphagnum moss - an important plant in natural flood management as well as forming peat bogs over time, a vital carbon sink. 70 young people from local schools are experimenting with growing sphagnum moss in their classrooms and a further 37 community volunteers are actively growing sphagnum moss.

Using creative approaches to engage communities with climate and nature: Using National Lottery funds, WWF-UK's ‘Mobilising UK Communities to Tackle the Climate and Nature Crisis’ project supported at least 250 local community leaders from diverse backgrounds to hold digital community screenings of ‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet’. An online training series and workshops enabled locally appropriate actions on climate change.

Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA), also a National Lottery funded project, works with local partners and Hubbub on ‘In our Nature’, a campaign supporting local groups to bring their own creative climate solutions to life. To date, the project has launched innovative urban greening projects exploring how spending time in nature helps connect climate change to our everyday lives including an immersive pop-up shop in Manchester city centre.

By Nicolas Croll