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Adaptation Scotland and Argyll & Bute Climate Action Network (ABCAN) have been collaborating on something exciting: a Gaelic version of our pioneering Community Climate Adaptation Routemap. 

The Routemap was translated by the Mòd committee and launched together with ABCAN at Mòd an Òbain, Scotland’s premiere celebration of Gaelic language, culture and heritage, this autumn.

 The digital version of the Routemap in Gaelic is available on our website here.  If you need printed copies, get in touch with Verture, or ABCAN. 

An interview with ABCAN’s lead Jamie Joyce and Ross Christie who translated the Routemap was recently shared on Verture’s website looking at discussing language, history and climate action. 

We hope this is a beginning of creating more Gaelic language resources to address the pressing climate change issues. 

Dundee Waterfront SuDS

The Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting partners within Tayside (Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross) to develop a new regional adaptation partnership to address climate risks at a regional scale.

The Climate Ready Tayside partnership is at a very early stage in its development and are currently undertaking stakeholder engagement activities to involve a wide range of people and organisations across the region in defining a shared vision and priorities for the new partnership.

Over the course of this year, the partnership aims to have a shared vision and approach to collaborative working that will support a business case to secure long term funding and support for adaptation action in Tayside.

Project aims

The Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting the Climate Ready Tayside partnership by:

  • Undertaking stakeholder mapping and engagement work to create a joint Vision of what an Adaptation Partnership in Tayside would be
  • Developing a business case for an Adaptation Partnership to assist in securing long term support and financing for the implementation of adaptation action in the region
  • Developing shared plans for communications, branding and messaging for the region
  • Exploring mechanisms to improve data sharing and decision making across the region, including longer term Governance structures for a Partnership.

Get involved

Benbecula from South Uist.

Copyright: Lorne Gill

Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Climate Change Working Group is supporting the Community Planning Partnership to improve climate resilience and deliver action as a whole-societal issue across the islands of the Outer Hebrides, grounded in what is important locally.

The vision of the Working Group is to respond to our climate challenge to enable a safer, healthier and flourishing Outer Hebrides. Through its work, the Group aims to integrate climate adaptation and resilience with societal issues, moving beyond sectoral responses and acknowledging a healthy environment as the support network that underpins everything.

Since being set up in 2019, the Working Group, with close support from the Adaptation Scotland programme, has:

Members of the Working Group include: NatureScot, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Community Energy Scotland, Community Land Scotland, Hebridean Housing Partnership, NHS Eilean Siar, Police Scotland, Scottish Youth Parliament, Fire and Rescue Service, SEPA, Tighean Innse Gall, Third Sector Interface Western Isles, University of the Highlands and Islands, Western Isles Libraries, and the Western Isles Emergency Planning Group.

Climate Hebrides has been formed as a “doing body” accountable to the Working Group, and is taking forward projects and actions that are comprehensive in outlook and inclusive in delivery.

Our Project Summary to tell the story of our work with the Group, and the lessons learned.

Download the project summary

“We have worked very closely with the Adaptation Scotland programme, who have given us clear direction and support as we have collated evidence, considered risks, engaged with communities and produced our Climate Rationale and Case for Action. Putting it simply – we would not be in the position we are in today without their advice and support. There is still much to be done, but with our increased understanding of the issues and risks we are in a much stronger place.”

David MacLennan, Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Working Group Chair, NatureScot

The Adaptation Scotland programme has supported the Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Working Group by:

 

  • Strengthening local partners’ understanding of climate impacts and resilience, and the importance of a partnership approach for adaptation planning and action
  • Supporting the local partners to codevelop their local evidence base on climate trends, projections and impacts and make complex information accessible
  • Expanding engagement and partnership working, helping to build relationships between local organisations as a trusted intermediary and facilitating connections to creative partners and other national and regional networks and opportunities
  • Creating mechanisms for different types of organisations and communities to explore together how the changing climate will impact their place, what is important to protect and why, and the cobenefits of adaptation
  • Exploring ways to gather, validate and visualise community voices and local knowledge, and build these into adaptation planning activities
  • Facilitating events and workshops and developing communication and engagement resources such as handouts, mapping activities and stakeholder maps
  • Drawing in additional partners, research, and funding including a collaboration with the Met Office to develop the climate storyline project
  • Continuing to support the next phase of work through ongoing membership of the Working Group

Further resources

Using the Climate Ready Places tool in a workshop

Aberdeen Adapts is a framework for city-wide working on climate adaptation. The framework incorporates the views of local organisations and communities and sets the direction to build long-term city resilience. Aberdeen Adapts acknowledges that the key to adaptation for the city is to collaborate, share experiences, build knowledge and understanding and work together to develop solutions.

41 local public bodies, businesses and communities participated in the development of the original Aberdeen Adapts framework, which was published in 2019. It was then refreshed in 2022 to align with the Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap and to take on board new information, policy drivers and climate risks.

The Aberdeen Climate and Nature Pledge has been created as commitment by the organisations and people of the City of Aberdeen to act within their own organisations and lives to contribute towards both the Net Zero Aberdeen Route map and Aberdeen Adapts framework.

Find out more

The Adaptation Scotland programme has supported Aberdeen Adapts by:

 

  • Supporting the initial development of Aberdeen Adapts starting in 2016, following a competitive application process led by Aberdeen City Council and the University of Aberdeen
  • Using a Local Climate Impacts Profile to help Aberdeen City Council to assess it’s vulnerability to climate change. Download the case study.
  • Helping to engage local communities with the development of the framework through a series of workshops in 2017, including using the Climate Ready Places lesson plans with schools across the city.
  • Working with Aberdeen City Council, Creative Carbon Scotland, and Robert Gordon University to create a mini arts festival in Middlefield focused on involving communities in the story of our changing climate. Watch the video below to find out more about this project
Aberdeen Adapts video thumbnail

Arts and climate adaptation – engaging communities in the Aberdeen Adapts project

A bridge stretches across a river into the distance.

The Tay Bridge

The Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting the formation of a new regional adaptation partnership in Tayside to address climate risks. We are inviting local people and organisations to help shape a shared vision and priorities through sector-specific events.

The climate in Tayside is changing and the region is experiencing warmer, wetter weather, increased storms, and higher sea levels, all of which is set to continue even if we achieved net zero tomorrow. We need to adapt to these changes to allow us to become more resilient and ensure Tayside can continue to flourish.

At this early stage, we want to involve people and organisations across the region in defining a shared vision and priorities for the new partnership. Four sector specific events have been designed to provide opportunities for different groups to have a say in what the partnership could be, what it could do and how it could work, and we are inviting people who live or work in the area to join in.

Each workshop will explore how a regional partnership can advance adaptation in Tayside, using these three key questions:

Each event will run from 12:30pm – 3pm with lunch available from 12:15pm. Space is limited, so we ask you to register no more than 2 people per organisation or group. If you want more people to attend, please contact the Adaptation Scotland programme team at Verture, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Please register via Eventbrite for the event most relevant to you. Each event will be tailored to that audience. If you are unable to attend your preferred event, please contact us rather than booking onto another event.

A stone bridge over a river in sunshine. The bridge is reflected in the water. Green grass and trees are on either side of the river.

Pollock Park in Glasgow

As part of the public consultation for the Draft Third Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3), Adaptation Scotland is supporting the Scottish Government to deliver workshops to gather feedback and input from a variety of communities, infrastructure providers, business, industry and finance.

Five place-based workshops were facilitated around Scotland in collaboration with local Climate Hubs. These took place in Annan, Montrose, Golspie, South Uist, and Glasgow. The aim was to support participation of people vulnerable to climate change to help inform the further development of the Plan, gathering their lived experiences of climate change, and supporting their engagement in adaptation policy and action in Scotland. More than 100 people took part overall.

Snapshot from Golspie

In Golspie, the workshop gave the local community an opportunity to learn about SNAP3, and for the Scottish Government’s Adaptation Team to hear directly from some of the Highland regions most immediately vulnerable places. As of 2021, more than 100 Golspie properties lie within 50 metres of the current mean high-water springs (MHWS). According to Dynamic Coast, unchecked, present maximum coastal erosion rates may increase with sea level rise resulting in ~-330 m retreat by 2100 across Golspie. This is what many coastal communities in Scotland may experience in the future. Golspie residents have become powerful adaptation and resilience communicators, developing the skills and knowledge needed to accurately and passionately convey their community’s needs.

Engaging stakeholders

In addition to this, Adaptation Scotland programme has also supported a series of thematic workshops with the Scottish Government. This has included sessions at the Scotland’s Flood Resilience Conference in Edinburgh, a session as part of the bi-annual Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network event with over 50 participants, and an online session with stakeholders involved in nature, land use, and marine environments. Further events focused on business and finance, infrastructure, and economic development are taking place throughout April.

The consultation remains open until 24th April 2024 and we would encourage readers to review the Draft SNAP3 plan, and contribute to the online consultation.

Benbecula from South Uist.

Benbecula from South Uist

Through the Adaptation Scotland programme and in partnership with five Climate Hubs, Verture is organising a series of workshops to discuss climate change impacts across Scotland and how the draft Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029 – currently out for consultation – aims to address them.

We have been to Annan with Dumfries and Galloway Hub already, are in Montrose with the Angus Hub today, and over the next few weeks will be in Golspie with the Highlands and Islands Hub; Daliburgh in South Uist with the Outer Hebrides COP; and Glasgow with the Glasgow Hub.

These workshops are run as part of the public consultation on the Adaptation Plan and inform its final version that will be published in Autumn. If you are interested in attending them please contact: [email protected]

Find out more about the Plan and share your views on it until 24 April.

A stone bridge over a river in sunshine. The bridge is reflected in the water. Green grass and trees are on either side of the river.

Pollock Park in Glasgow

As part of the public consultation for the Draft Third Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3), the Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting the Scottish Government to deliver workshops to gather feedback and input from a variety of communities, infrastructure providers, business, industry and finance.

Five place-based workshops were facilitated around Scotland in collaboration with local Climate Hubs. These took place in Annan, Montrose, Golspie, South Uist, and Glasgow. The aim was to support participation of people vulnerable to climate change to help inform the further development of the Plan, gathering their lived experiences of climate change, and supporting their engagement in adaptation policy and action in Scotland. More than 100 people took part overall.

Snapshot from Golspie

In Golspie, the workshop gave the local community an opportunity to learn about SNAP3, and for the Scottish Government’s Adaptation Team to hear directly from some of the Highland regions most immediately vulnerable places. As of 2021, more than 100 Golspie properties lie within 50 metres of the current mean high-water springs (MHWS). According to Dynamic Coast, unchecked, present maximum coastal erosion rates may increase with sea level rise resulting in ~-330 m retreat by 2100 across Golspie. This is what many coastal communities in Scotland may experience in the future. Golspie residents have become powerful adaptation and resilience communicators, developing the skills and knowledge needed to accurately and passionately convey their community’s needs.

Engaging stakeholders

In addition to this, Adaptation Scotland programme has also supported a series of thematic workshops with the Scottish Government. This has included sessions at the Scotland’s Flood Resilience Conference in Edinburgh, a session as part of the bi-annual Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network event with over 50 participants, and an online session with stakeholders involved in nature, land use, and marine environments. Further events focused on business and finance, infrastructure, and economic development are taking place throughout April.

The consultation remains open until 24th April 2024 and we would encourage readers to review the Draft SNAP3 plan, and contribute to the online consultation.

A image of a blue tit on a brach overlaid with text reading: Community Climate Adaptation Routemap Underneath the text are logos for: Adaptation Scotland Sniffer Scottish Government

The Routemap cover page

The Adaptation Scotland programme is encouraging local communities to take practical actions to adapt to the impacts of climate change and help build more thriving communities.

The new routemap resource offers a highly practical and accessible guide on the topic, aimed at allowing local groups such as community gardeners, residents groups and community councils to act now to protect their environments in the future.

The Routemap has been produced in collaboration with Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, the Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS), North East Scotland Climate Action Network (NESCAN Hub), and the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN) alongside contributions from ReadyScot, Sustrans, Architecture & Design Scotland and others.

This interactive resource serves as an easy-to-follow guide to cover everything from regenerating nature to greener household actions such as reducing dampness and overheating. It also covers self-sufficiency in local communities, transport options to reduce emissions and how to check areas have sufficient insurance against climate risks.

The Community Climate Adaptation Routemap’ features 50+ hyperlinks which signpost users to dozens of other websites and resources by top climate science specialists, organisations and experts from across Scotland and beyond.

Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson said:

“Our climate is already changing and adapting to ‘locked-in’ climate change impacts is crucial for creating a fairer and greener nation. This Routemap will be a source of inspiration and practical support for communities and local organisations across Scotland, helping them tailor climate resilience initiatives to their needs.

“These tools are crucial in helping us all play our part in securing a net zero future that is fair and just for everyone.”

Iryna Zamuruieva, Climate Resilience Manager at Verture, added:

“One of the challenges with working on climate change adaptation is a perception that adaptation is an ‘add-on’ to existing work. That’s why we spent a lot of time with our project partners working out how to link climate adaptation with some of the most pressing issues we face, such as environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, and health and housing quality. This Routemap is designed to link these together with practical climate adaptation actions which start from a place of understanding the causes of the problem.

“As a fully interactive resource, this new tool can be used in multiple ways. It allows people to start with what can just be an idea, then develop it into a workable, effective project that will make a genuine difference to people and environments in Scotland, and help them join the concerted effort to adapt our country to a changing climate.”

Harper Loonsk, Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator of Highland Adapts at Verture said:

“The Community Climate Adaptation Routemap is an invaluable tool. It fills a resource gap for practical, easily digestible actions which communities can use to build resilience and adapt while also addressing social issues. It commendably also addresses the fundamental root causes of climate change (colonialism and development) in a way that sets the stage for meaningful, justice-oriented action in the future.

“It’s both dynamic and visually engaging, and approaches knowledge sharing in a new way. Highland Adapts is eager to share this resource with our partners, who we hope will look to it for inspiration and direction on community climate action.”

The community Routemap is split into three distinctive project stages to launch then drive climate resilience in local areas: ‘getting started’, ‘understanding climate change in your community’, and ‘taking action’.

“This Routemap will be a source of inspiration and practical support for communities and local organisations across Scotland, helping them tailor climate resilience initiatives to their needs.”

Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson
View the routemap