During October, CCN’s most recent gathering took place, fittingly, by the sea on the Isle of Cumbrae. The network had been busy since we last met up at Gartmore in May 2023, so had a lot to catch up on!
We welcomed Friends of CCN, reps from NatureScot, and old and new CCN members. This year, we focused primarily on skill sharing and learning, with a host of workshops spanning a broad range of themes and interests.
On Saturday morning, we were all up early for some breakfast and a full day of activities.
CCN’s former Coordinator, Alan Munro, gave his reflections on the network’s progress and changes over the past year. These included growing the network to a current 30 member groups, hiring a new coordinator, and being invited to give evidence at the Scottish Government’s enquiry into salmon farming, as well as all the incredible work individual members have been doing. It was undoubtedly a busy year for CCN, and we had a lot to celebrate!
We held three morning workshops; the first was led by Janet from Clean Coast Outer Hebrides, which covered how she used drones to monitor coastal litter, particularly in hard to reach coastal areas. Others went down to the sea side for a workshop on running rocky shore surveys and species identification. The third workshop explored the potential for marine management, as members created a vision for community-led marine governance and discussed how to get there. Here participants highlighted the importance of widespread community involvement and representation, explored potential legal mechanisms that could enable community-led management, and how to better advocate for this at a political level.
After some lunch, we then headed to our afternoon workshops. The first covered biodiversity credits, and how communities could navigate them for local benefit – though we may have left with more questions than answers! Ceris, Fauna and Flora’s Capacity Building Support Specialist, discussed what successful community-led organisations look like and how groups can get there. Future Heritage, based in Sutherland, ran a session drawing on their lived experiences on how heritage and storytelling can bring people together and forge connections within communities. Between the morning and afternoon workshops, we had a busy day of skillsharing and learning.
In the evening, we heard from member groups who received Fauna and Flora’s community support fund on how they used the fund and how it helped them achieve their aims. This covered everything from creating engagement resources to citizen science biodiversity monitoring restoration projects, and it was really great to hear what some CCN members have been working on over the past year.
Ariane Burgess, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, wrapped up a very busy day by sharing some thoughts on the importance of communities in marine protection and potential pathways to achieve better community involvement in governance.
On Sunday morning, we gathered again for more discussions on aquaculture and to hear from Carna Conservation Initiative on their recent Hope Week. We then held a quick horizon scanning activity to look at CCN’s upcoming priorities. At a glance it looks like we will have a very busy year!
Then we were back on the ferry and headed home until the next gathering. We’re really grateful to everyone who took part in the event and made it so special – until the next gathering!
