Independent nature and heritage charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future are delighted to announce the start of a new project to help nature and climate in Cambridge thanks to a £495,000 grant award from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund. The River Cam CAN (Climate Action through Nature) Project will support communities near the river to work on initiatives that will benefit them and the environment.
The new 2-year project aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the River Cam and inspire and support people to take action to help. The project will be delivered by a partnership of local organisations including Abbey People, Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Past, Present & Future, CoFarm and Water Sensitive Cambridge. They will be supported by the national charity Climate Outreach.
The project is being managed by local charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future.
Chief Executive, James Littlewood explains, “the River Cam connects most of the city’s green spaces, habitats and communities – including some of the most economically and socially disadvantaged. The river system is also emblematic of the environmental challenges that Cambridge faces; it suffers from flooding, pollution, drought and over-use of water, all are getting worse, and many are connected to climate change. This has impacts on both communities and nature and this project is about encouraging people to get involved and help their rivers and streams. We are very keen to involve more organisations in this project once we get started, especially some of the groups that use the River Cam, I would love to hear from them. We are also creating several fantastic new jobs, which the project partners are now recruiting for.”
Nicky Shepard, CEO of Abbey People said, “Developing a more sustainable environment in Abbey is one of our key strategy areas and thanks to National Lottery players we’ll be able to extend our work in this area. We’re creating new jobs, a fantastic new community garden, looking after our globally rare chalk stream and helping the local community to take action to fight climate change.”
Gavin Shelton, Founder & CEO of CoFarm said, “We’re so excited that The National Lottery Community Fund are supporting this partnership. How we organise our food systems – both now and in the future – is critical to tackling climate change, restoring nature and reducing health inequalities in our communities. This lottery support will enable us to employ our first Community Engagement Coordinator at Cambridge’s first agroecological community farm in Abbey. As well as building our capacity to ensure that the farm is accessible to all, it will mean that more people from across Cambridge will directly experience that taking practical action for the climate and for nature can be great fun, alongside giving our health and wellbeing a boost.”
Clara Todd from Water Sensitive Cambridge, “we will be creating a beautiful rain garden to filter contaminants from water that runs off the road, which will help reduce river pollution. The rain garden will also provide habitat for wildlife and help to cool the street during periods of hot weather. It’s a win-win-win project that we hope can inspire more across Cambridge and beyond”.
Cllr Sam Carling, Executive Councillor for Open Spaces and City Services said, “Cambridge City Council will be working to deliver a project called ‘DiversiTree’, centred on a community-based approach to managing veteran trees growing on the riverbank which ensures that they continue to thrive. Veteran trees are important in supporting biodiversity and providing habitats for animals, not to mention their cultural and historic value. We hope to engage tree owners, residents and visitors so that we can all enjoy the trees and understand the importance they have as well as how to care for them.
Part of the project will involve conducting a tree survey, talking to landowners who have veteran trees on their land, and hosting workshops on how to manage the trees. There will also be events open to members of the local community, including those from underrepresented backgrounds – caring for the environment is a community effort and we hope that by educating residents and landowners we can give them the right tools to do just that.
Increasing our tree stock in the city and protecting existing trees – including veteran trees – are both critical to our Tree Strategy as a council, which is why we are thrilled to be working with partners on this and why we’re so pleased that funding has been awarded to deliver this project in addition to others that will bring together local communities in caring for the River Cam to help address the environmental challenges that the river is facing.”
Emma James, from Climate Outreach, is delighted to be part of the project, “action on climate change and nature recovery in Cambridge and along the River Cam needs all of us. This project has to listen to and speak to people's values and needs in order to build widespread, local support and to encourage people to get involved. Climate Outreach will provide training and support for the River Cam CAN partners to enable them to engage with as many people as possible. This will include helping to develop communications and messages that resonate with different River Cam communities.”
Mel Eaglesfield, Deputy Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We’re delighted to fund the River Cam CAN programme in Cambridgeshire, which will support communities near the River Cam to come together and take meaningful action to make their local environment more sustainable and resilient.
Thanks to National Lottery players, not only will this project help to transform neglected spaces, but will also help to improve water quality, reduce flooding, and benefit nature, all of which will help to improve the lives of local residents.”
