Food and farming the focus of Cotswold District rural Climathon
Cotswold District Council is supporting an innovative rural ‘Climathon’ to give residents, community groups, farmers, landowners and local businesses the chance to co-create ideas for how food and farming can help to tackle the climate emergency.
The Council has partnered with the Countryside and Community Research Institute at the University of Gloucestershire to bring the Climathon to the Cotswolds.
Cllr Mike McKeown, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability at Cotswold District Council, said: “I’m so pleased we’re supporting this Climathon, and I’m excited to see the changes our district will make to become net-zero. I’m also delighted that we’re helping the Countryside and Community Research Institute to refine their Climathon method, and help spread it to other rural areas.”
“I really urge anyone who is interested in food and farming to join us for the Climathon event on the 27 and 28 September. This will be an opportunity to speak to others about climate change, learn from experts, and share ideas around how food, farming and land use can help us achieve net-zero as a district.”
“Cotswold District Council has committed to making the Council’s activities net-zero carbon by 2030, and for the whole district by 2045. The Cotswold Climathon will not only help communities and individual residents to take action themselves, but it will also help to inform the Council’s Climate Action Strategy.”
Climathons are an innovative, creative approach to help communities engage with local climate issues.
The approach aims to help people collectively develop locally appropriate solutions which align with current food, farming and land use priorities in Cotswold District.
The “How can food, farming and land use help achieve net-zero?” Climathon is being held on 27 and 28 September and is free to attend. Day one will take the form of a 90-minute morning online webinar, and day two will be an in-person event at Farm491, at the Royal Agriculture University, Cirencester.
The Climathon is supported by the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), with funding from Research England. NICRE brings together the strengths of its founding university partners: Newcastle University’s Centre for Rural Economy and Business School, Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick University and the Countryside and Community Research Institute at the University of Gloucestershire and Royal Agricultural University to research and co-design ideas and solutions to foster rural enterprise and unlock the potential of rural economies.
Those interested in attending need to sign up online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-cotswold-climathon-tickets-699527163577?aff=oddtdtcreator