Conservation & Biodiversity

We support stakeholders across the food systems from farm to fork to adopt more sustainable practices to ensure more people have access to good food.

Mothers CAN is a UK-based network of mothers from all walks of life, from all over the country. We come together in our communities to build power and figure out what we can do together to create change.

Web: https://opencollective.com/edinburgh-regenerative-practitioner-guild

An informal group for residents of Willowbrae to communicate local news, events, community efforts, tips to lead a more sustainable life, crime watch, and to offer mutual aid and support. This includes a Transition Streets group and Mothers CAN group, and links to the Eco group at the local Primary School. Community efforts include activities such as hand weeding streets to prevent Council from spraying glyphosate.

Edible Edinburgh is one of a network of Sustainable Food Place Partnerships, supported UK wide by Sustain. The cross sectoral partnership plays an important role in the development of sustainable food systems, campaigning for change and informing policy. City populations have a buying power and scope to free up land to grow more food locally. Also to influence the public spending on food to ensure that people can benefit from good, sustainable food.

BVT (Balerno Village Trust) set up an Energy Group in 2010 that eventually formed CBS Harlaw Hydro (a micro hydro community benefit coop) in 2013, which went live in 2015 and gifts surplus funds back to the BVT every year. We are currently undertaking a Net Zero CARES funded project in our 1950s community centre, with a whole host of challenges due to the condition and age of the building and the lack of volunteer time available.

Leith Community Growers is a small community group that works in the Leith Walk area. We aim to create accessible communtiy- and greenspace in and around Leith. That involves building planters and bat boxes, creating new gardens, growing spaces and wildlife habitats, organising various workshops, seed swaps and harvest festivals or giving out free community meals. We have regular drop-in gardening sessions at the Meanwhile Site with lots of regular and occasional volunteers, who are passionate about local food and growing projects.

The Green Team is an environmental youth organisation working with children and young people through nature connection, outdoor learning, environmental education and practical volunteering to improve the greenspaces of Edinburgh in terms of habitats and biodiversity and leave things better than we found them. We work with young people of all ages through enjoyment and play, learning and teaching, discussion and enquiry and the development of practical and social skills. We are very keen on supporting young people to find their voice and influence their future and the future of the Green Team. Our staff led programmes are supported by adult volunteers who give their time, experience and skills to support young people to participate.

Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), founded in 1971, is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity made up of individual members and representatives from a wide range of organisations. ELREC is a member of the Scottish Alliance of Regional Equality Councils and has a remit to work across the areas of City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. ELREC runs the Communities’ Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Project which is funded by Climate Action Fund (CAF), The National Lottery Community Fund. The aim of the project is to encourage and support BAME communities in Edinburgh to reduce waste, increase reusing and repairing and to shift to a more sustainable consumption.

We run and host a wide range of activities in Southside Community Centre, including a gardening group in the centre's grounds.

​Bridgend Farmhouse is a sustainable community-owned centre for learning, eating and exercise in South Edinburgh. We aim to grow together to develop a flourishing community and place.

Cargo Bike Movement is a charity that was established, initially informally, in April 2020 in response to the first UK Covid-19 lockdown. Since then, we have gone through the journey of being a Community Interest Company (CIC) and now a registered charity (SC051593)!

Edible Estates is a partnership of organisations which work together to promote community greenspace projects. We work across a variety of communities, but our approach is particularly well suited to social housing estates. We use food growing as a tool for urban regeneration, promoting individual health and well-being, and community cohesion.

In summary, with our activities centred on Leith Community Croft at the NW corner of Leith Links, we connect people with each and the land/nature and promote responsible global citizenship.

Our vision is for a large scale urban food growing project which is nature rich, and which will benefit primarily the communities that live in the local area but also the wider city into the future. We aim to address some of the issues around access to local, affordable fresh produce, environmental degradation and lack of opportunities for people in cities to gain experience in food production resulting in a greater understanding of the wider food system.

Primarily awareness raising, community litter picks, occasional community information events and climate cafe info points