Community & Youth
Forest of Dean communities are at the heart of creating fair, locally driven climate action. Local people know best what they need in their communities. We believe it’s essential to involve a greater diversity of people, partners, and groups in climate work, including those not currently active on climate issues. Local communities and groups are taking inspiring action across the Forest in many different ways.
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Youth & Climate
Young people are our future, and they must be given a meaningful voice in climate work. We have youth representation on FODCAP’s steering group and are always looking for ways to increase youth participation in our work. Inspiring climate work is taking place in schools, youth groups, and clubs across the Forest of Dean. Check out some of the things that our young people in the Forest are up to below.
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Forest of Dean Youth Environmental Award
This award encourages local youth groups to engage with nature through hands-on activities and environmental learning. Youth groups explore climate change, biodiversity, and global citizenship issues, with mentoring and support along the way. Launched with a dam-building activity and tour of the Greathough beaver enclosure, the award aims to inspire the next generation of environmental ambassadors.
In partnership with Forestry England, the council recently hosted the first Youth Environmental Awards Evening, celebrating the efforts of 1st Ruardean Scouts, Mitcheldean Youth Hub, and Coleford Platoon.
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Gloucestershire Youth Climate Group
The Gloucestershire Youth Climate Group (GYCG) is a youth-led group for 16–25 year olds living, working, or studying in the county who are passionate about climate action and advocating for youth voice in local climate policy. The group is made up of 30 young people, five from each District, who meet monthly to plan activities.
The group is funded by Gloucestershire County Council and hosted by Creative Sustainability CIC. Representatives of Gloucestershire Youth Climate Group are part of FODCAP’s steering group.
Eco-Schools
Eco-Schools is a pupil-led education programme for all types of schools to help them become more sustainable, increase environmental learning and benefit the wider community. Schools work towards Green Flag accreditation by focusing on key topics like energy, waste, biodiversity, and school grounds.
In 2024-25, 10 schools across the Forest signed up to the Eco-Schools programme and had a grant from Forest of Dean District Council to cover their registration fee. This helps them to embed sustainability into their curriculum, daily operations, and student leadership activities. Learn more on the here and in this video.
Let’s Go Zero
A number of schools in the District have joined Let’s Go Zero, a national campaign that brings together pupils, teachers, and families in a collective mission to reach zero carbon by 2030.
The campaign provides schools with tools, guidance, and support as they work towards ambitious climate goals. Together, these programmes are helping build a culture of climate action across Forest schools, led by the students and supported by their communities. Explore the map opposite to see who has joined up and where teachers, students and school communities are taking action.
Community Voice
Local communities are central to creating fair, locally driven climate action in the Forest of Dean. We believe it’s essential to involve a greater diversity of people, partners, and groups in climate work, including those not currently active on climate issues. Different communities across the District have unique needs and perspectives that are shaped by geography, identity, and interests. Have a look below at some of the work and initiatives that FODCAP and partners have been up to.
Coleford Climate Citizen Visioning Project
In June and July 2025 Coleford residents will take part in a citizen visioning to help shape the future of their town. 22 local people will be selected at random, in a process similar to that used for Jury service, and will be paid for their time. Together they will develop a set of recommendations in response to the question: ‘How can we create a happy and fair future for Coleford while working together to respond to the challenges of climate change’.
Climate Volunteer Award
It is important to celebrate the work of local people taking action on climate. Forest Voluntary Action Forum have included climate action as a new category to their volunteer awards in 2025, sponsored by FODCAP. Watch this space!
LGBTQIA+ Community Climate Action Plan
The voices of the LGBTQIA+ communities in the Forest of Dean need to be heard and listened to. Working in partnership with Queering the Wye, the Forest of Dean Council has worked with the community to understand what climate action is important to LGBTQIA+ communities. Over a three-month period, Queering the Wye ran a community survey, held a series of workshops and produced a zine to explore what meaningful, inclusive climate action looks like for LGBTQIA+ individuals in the District.
Support for Community Groups and Town and Parish Councils
We’re working closely with community groups and Town and Parish Councils across the Forest to support and strengthen local climate action. Through tailored support sessions and workshops, FODCAP and partners are helping communities build the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to lead on the issues that matter most to them.
Climate Action Support Sessions
The Forest of District Council and FODCAP have created a series of sessions designed to support not-for-profit voluntary and community groups to access the Forest of Dean Community Grants.
They are helping groups to start projects, connect them to people and funding streams, as well as assisting with climate-specific judging criteria.
Forest Community Energy
Forest Community Energy is a group of local people supporting the Forest of Dean on its journey to Net Zero.
They’ve been on a mission to promote energy saving awareness through inspiring events, workshops, a carbon tracker app, and community-owned solar panels in the Forest of Dean! They are the UK demo site of the EU Horizon 2020-funded AURORA project.
Centre for Sustainable Energy Workshops
FODCAP teamed up with the Centre for Sustainable Energy, funding them to support local community groups including Citizens Advice, Artspace and FVAF to develop their Sustainability Action Plans.
Climate Adaptation Planning
Forest of Dean District Council, is helping the District’s towns, as well as several parish councils, explore how local towns can adapt to changes in weather and flooding caused by climate change.
The council has commissioned JBA to create a framework for individual towns, creating a number of examples for others to follow. Alongside this there are a number of resources for groups and parishes so people can create their own.
Gloucestershire Rural Community Council
Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) are working with Forest of Dean Town and Parish Councils to trial their new Community Climate Action Plan Toolkit for local climate action.
The aim of creating a Community Climate Action Plan is to help reduce a community’s contribution to climate change and reduce the impacts of climate change on the community at a local level.
The Great Collaboration
The Great Collaboration is a community-driven initiative that empowers individuals, organisations, and councils to take local climate action through its Greener Footprints Toolkit. As part of its development, they host free weekly "banter" sessions every Wednesday at midday, offering an open forum to discuss a wide range of climate action topics such as biodiversity policy, sustainable transport, community energy, and more.