Community Group: African, Caribbean, Asian and Mixed Heritage Association, ACAMHA

Researchers: Mandy Haggith, Arts & Humanities (Independent / University of the Highlands & Islands) & Nadine Andrews, Social Science (Independent / University of Lancaster)

Location: Inverness

Exploring perceptions of climate change, and climate change engagement, within African, Caribbean, Asian & Mixed Heritage communities across the Highlands.

Remi Martin, Community leader at African, Caribbean, Asian and Mixed Heritage Association, ACAMHA, said:

It has been good to connect local and community issues to what [BIPOC community members across the Highlands] see happening globally. Community led research is very significant in the grand scheme of things and can be as impactful as research produced by academics; the community [has a] voice and we have tried to be active and use it.

Photographer: Alexander Williamson 

About the project

ACAMHA explored the thoughts, attitudes and engagement about climate change and the current climate crisis with Black, Indigenous and People of colour (BIPOC) in the Highlands of Scotland.

The aim was to better understand the (perceived) lack of representation from these communities within mainstream climate discourse and research, and to challenge potential misconceptions about BIPOC and their attitudes towards climate change.

As a newly founded group, it was one of the first grants they received. They were especially keen for the Highland BIPOC community to work collaboratively with researchers and see themselves as researchers as a result.

Community-researcher partnership

With researcher Mandy Haggith (Arts & Humanities, Independent & Lecturer at the University of the Highlands & Islands) the group explored creative social action research methods at a number of workshops with adults and children from their community. 

This community research revealed that climate change engagement in the Highlands is inseparable from climate change issues happening in other parts of the world where some community members have personal links, such as the mining of materials in the Congo for products used in the Highlands, as well as the loss of indigenous knowledge around sustainable practices. 

Other themes included barriers to engagement, the role of language, the pressure of social and economic inequalities and the importance of addressing these before engaging in actions around climate change. There was strong agreement to focus on educating younger people about the importance of climate change, and future climate action.

Research impacts

ACAMHA have developed a report with Dr Nadine Andrews, (Social Science, Independent & visiting researcher at the University of Lancaster), supporting the community to take ‘ownership’ of actions arising from conversations, including a commitment to continue discussing climate change as a group. The report also included a list of recommendations for other professionals, including the importance of inviting BIPOC communities in the Highlands to collaborate with more research or academic partners in climate action,

empowering them to recognise that they have a voice which can be used in a variety of ways to bring about discovery and change.

The group felt working collaboratively with a social scientist and artistic practitioner helped to dispel myths about research and researchers because they approached climate change conversations in an accessible way which felt less ‘sciency’ than other research projects. As a result, they feel that their ability and confidence to engage in further research has increased massively “from a starting point of ground zero”.