South East Rural Community Councils Title Bar

SE Rural Community Councils and Climate Change

The 21st Century Village Initiative
Local Action - Global Impact

The Rural Community Councils in the South East are taking on the challenge of the projected impact that Climate Change and future resource restrictions may have on communities whether urban or rural.

Communities across the South East are being challenged by a future which offers both opportunities and threats. The only certainty is that change will happen, brought on by climate change as a result of greenhouse gases and energy resource depletion.

But there are alternatives. In rural areas communities will need to plan and act together and make the most of the land assets that surround them and the willingness of people in towns and villages to become involved in controlling their own future. We already know that rural communities can respond to environmental challenges with many small actions. Communities are keen and ready to undertake actions which will mitigate and help adapt to Climate Change. As well as basic activities like low energy product use, insulating buildings and recycling, which many have already adopted, we now want to encourage them to consider other schemes such as:

Community sign-up to CO2 reduction
Eco home build and retrofit of existing buildings to reduce emissions
Increasing local food production and creating local markets for local food
Community renewable energy schemes
Economic development by intelligent use of existing facilities
Community trusts for the purchase and community ownership of local buildings
Community land trusts for affordable housing
Community travel schemes

Communities, however, cannot do it all alone. RCCs are helping local people design their future through supporting Community Led Plans, community buildings, transport activities, affordable housing, local services, local foods and a variety of other activities and then supporting them to deliver the agreed actions and achieve the priorities which require action by others.

In their day to day work with communities the RCCs:

Aim to create awareness and understanding of the implications of climate change and fuel limitations facing rural communities
Demonstrate the power and effectiveness of communities working together to address the challenges of climate change
Demonstrate the RCCs collaborative ability to support the delivery of local solutions on national and global issues

Climate change conference Action with Communities in Rural England’s Rural Life conference in June 2007 saw the launch of a new national RCC initiative, the 21st Century Village, which builds on the existing work of communities and RCCs, but in the context of a very different future. ACRE and the RCCs believe that the same tradition of community action can be harnessed to deliver sustainable futures for rural communities.

RCCs in the South East have embraced the 21st Century village concept in many different ways. Several launched the concept with workshops and conferences aimed at educating and debating issues faced by rural communities within the 21st Century Village context and asking attendees to sign up to change their behaviours to reduce CO2 and live more sustainably. Some held children’s drawing competitions, whilst others held quizzes and attended local shows and events.

The high levels of attendance at these events have shown that there is widespread interest in the future of a sustainable way of life, and a desire by the communities to be participative in their response to the challenges ahead.

Specific activities undertaken across the SE Region by all RCCs.

SERCC is a member of the SE Climate Change Partnership and has been instrumental in getting a Communities Group set up by the Partnership to look at individual and community behaviour change and how it can be supported and good initiatives shared.
The SERCC CEO represents the region’s Third Sector on the SE Sustainable Futures Group responsible for drafting and implementing the Regional Sustainability Framework
SERCC and all member RCCs have signed up to the Third Sector Declaration on Climate Change
All are working on the National 21st Century Village Project and are linked through ACRE our national organisation to Defra’s Every Action Counts programme.
All have undertaken a Green Audit of their own organisation and agreed ten actions they will take to reduce their CO2 emissions and become more sustainable organisations.
All are using the Database of actions from Community Led Plans to identify actions relating to the environment that communities can take forward.
All field staff have undergone training on Climate Change. This has covered the general science behind and aspects of Climate Change, Peak Oil and their projected impacts, but each individual network then had specific training related to their work programme and this is ongoing.

Communities have a real contribution to play in achieving targets around climate change but they need to be properly supported with technical advice, information and resources. RCCs have also provided, through the Community Planning Process and the Parish and Community Planning Toolkit, the tools for communities to enable them to undertake practical steps towards greater sustainability of their homes, buildings and wider communities. This toolkit has a section which asks communities to consider their environment and their impacts on it. At present we are developing this further and putting together a section focused on Climate Change and Behaviour Change activities.

We believe that with the right support, and the right policy context set by government, rural community action can make a unique contribution to the challenge of climate change across Britain and the wider world, creating a more sustainable future for our communities and people.

SE Rural Community Councils and Climate Change

Further Reading