THE Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere (GSAB) has been awarded £140,000 worth of funding to create and lead a new regional climate hub.
Operating across the whole of Dumfries and Galloway, the GSA Biosphere will coordinate and share best practice tools to support action in addressing the challenges of climate change.
Taking a place-based approach that combines experience and innovation, the hub will focus on issues specific to communities in the region. This will include climate impacts on food production, energy provision, transport, and the cost of living, and the local response to extreme weather events such as fire and flood.
The Scottish Government’s award of £140,000 to fund the new Climate Hub is initially until March 2024, with in-principal support to extend this to at least March 2025.
Commenting on the announcement of the the new Climate Hub, director of the GSA Biosphere, Ed Forrest said: “We’re very excited for this opportunity in which the knowledge and skills our organisation has developed over more than a decade of work will be put to such important use. The fact that GSAB has been invited to step beyond its geographical boundary and lead the new Climate Hub reflects the Scottish Government and local authority’s confidence in our experience and expertise, and their faith in the UNESCO Biosphere model to deliver tangible outcomes for the people of Dumfries and Galloway.”