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Community action/Fife

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Shell Bay, March 2014, Attribution: Jim Bain
Location data
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Location Fife, Scotland
Coordinates 56° 20' 0.00" N, 3° 0' 0.00" W

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Fife.

Fife
Scotland
UK
Europe
Cosmolocal
  • News How community projects are building a brighter future for British farms, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (Nov 11, 2025)
  • News Government minister visits Dunfermline to find out about Citizens’ Assembly project, electoral-reform.org.uk (Aug 27, 2025)
  • News Fife Council welcomes Scottish Government's commitment to local democracy, fife.gov.uk (May 15, 2025)
Read more
  • News Green jobs contributing £10.2bn to Scotland's economy, says CBI report, BBC News (May 26, 2026)
  • News Rewilding project aims to restore peatland near Loch Ness, BBC News (Apr 15, 2026)
  • News Who Owns Scotland 2025, andywightman.scot (Mar 23, 2026) — 83% of rural land is possessed by private entities - and a tiny fraction by communities and non-profits
  • News Met Office issues rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday, theguardian.com (Jun 22, 2026)
  • News Rights of Nature movement grows, with the Wye and Ouse subject to new protection charters, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (Jun 18, 2026) — Nature sits at the heart of several new sets of rights and charters; it’s even headlining a festival this summer. Is the way that we view and value Nature within our political and cultural frameworks at a turning point? asks Hannah Marsh
  • News This city had a flooding problem. So it turned to an animal that had been extinct there for 400 years, edition.cnn.com (Jun 18, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)
  • News Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
  • News Trapped by floods and fearing death in the heat: the Australians taking legal action over the climate crisis, theguardian.com (Jun 22, 2026)
  • News ‘The sea took everything away’: how Nigeria’s ‘Happy City’ is disappearing beneath the waves, theguardian.com (Jun 18, 2026)
  • News Trash and dignity: The rise of inclusive recycling projects in Latin America, globalvoices.org (Jun 12, 2026)

Networks and sustainability initiatives

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  • Transition St Andrews, Video: Transition University of St Andrews on youtube.com
  • Greener Kirkcaldy, "community-led charity working locally to bring people together, take positive action on the climate emergency and support people through fuel poverty and food insecurity." Activities across Kirkcaldy and work with partners to deliver projects across Fife. Video: Greener Kirkcaldy on youtube.com

CDC videos

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Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

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Future Rural Voices: perspectives on the countryside’s future
Authors: Campaign to Protect Rural England, 2.35 mins.
Date: 2026-05-07
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Local Power, Lower Bills: Up the Energy!
Authors: Community Energy England, 1.38 mins.
Date: 2026-03-10
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Tiree - This is Community Wealth Building
Authors: Scottish Community Alliance, 3.44 mins.
Date: 2025-11-18

Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

Fife video

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We Are Transition St Andrews
Authors: Transition University of St Andrews, May 5, 2023
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Climate Action Fife
Authors: Greener Kirkcaldy, Jan 18, 2021
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Greener Kirkcaldy - About Us
Authors: Greener Kirkcaldy, 10.00 mins.
Date: 2020-05-01
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An Estate Where Land Gives Life To People
Authors: Information Hub, Dec 11, 2018
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Fairtrade St Andrews
Authors: Bubble TV, Mar 14, 2017
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Fairer Fife Commission - Fairness Matters
Authors: TheFifecouncil, Nov 9, 2015

UK and international events

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UK events

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event July 2026 — Plastic Free July, plasticfreejuly.org
  • Event Jul 04, 2026 (Sat) — International Day of Cooperatives (CoopsDay), 1st Saturday of July. The celebration aims to showcase co-operatives’ role in building ‘inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities’, coopsday.coop
  • Event Jul 18, 2026 (Sat) — Mandela Day, global celebration 18 July annually, to honour the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. A call to action for individuals, communities, and organisations to take time to reflect on Mandela's values and principles and to make a positive impact in their own communities, mandeladay.com

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Community involvement

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  • Dunfermline New City Assembly, "Join us in shaping the future of Dunfermline through our citizens’ assembly. Your voice matters in this initiative." added 16:41, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

Community and voluntary action

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Food activism

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Community resources

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  • News St Andrews Men's Shed, Now officially based at Craigtoun, friendsofcraigtoun.org.uk/news (Nov 29, 2023)
  • News Self-driving buses that go wherever you want? How the UK is trying to revolutionise public transport, theconversation.com (Sep 29, 2023)
  • News I Rode the World's First Autonomous Public Bus Service, cnet.com (May 18, 2023)

Arts, sport and culture

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Fife contains 4,961 listed buildings and 48 conservation areas. Domestic sites of importance include Falkland Palace, Kellie Castle, Dunfermline Palace, St Andrews Castle, Culross Palace and Kirkcaldy's Ravenscraig Castle. Fife also has a number of ecclesiastical sites of historical interest. St Andrews Cathedral was home to the powerful Archbishopric of St Andrews, and later became a centre of the Scottish Reformation, while Dunfermline Abbey was the last resting place of a number of Scottish kings. Balmerino and Culross abbeys were both founded in the 13th century by the Cistercians, while a century before Lindores Abbey was founded by the Tironensians outside Newburgh; all were highly important sites.

The Stanza Poetry Festival, East Neuk Festival, and Pittenweem Arts Festival are events of national cultural importance. Smaller festivals like the Cupar Arts Festival also take place. The Byre Theatre in St Andrews and Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy are both highly regarded as touring venues, the latter also being the base of the grand opera company Fife Opera. The Byre has re-opened in Autumn, 2014 following its going into administration in 2012. W

Climate action

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Sustainable transport

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The Fife Pilgrim Way is a Scottish long-distance footpath that runs inland through Fife, from Culross and North Queensferry to St Andrews. The path launched on 5 July 2019.

The Fife Coastal Path is a Scottish long distance footpath that runs from Kincardine to Newburgh along the coastline of Fife.

The path was created in 2002, originally running from North Queensferry to Tayport. It was extended in 2011 with a new section running from Kincardine to North Queensferry, then again in 2012 from Tayport to Newburgh. The path, which usually takes between one week and 10 days to walk in full, now runs for 187 kilometres (116 mi).

The Fife Coastal Path is managed and maintained by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, a registered environmental charity, and is designated as one of Scotland's Great Trails by NatureScot. About 500,000 people use the path every year, of whom about 35,000 walk the entire route.

Biodiversity

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The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately eight kilometres (4+12 nautical miles) off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about 1.5 kilometres (78 mile) long and 0.5 kilometres (516 mile) wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no permanent residents, but the island was the site of St Adrian's Priory during the Middle Ages.

Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve (NNR) is located southeast of Tayport in Fife, Scotland. The reserve is made up of three parts, encompassing Morton Lochs, Tentsmuir Point and Tayport Heath, and is managed by NatureScot. The different sections of Tentsmuir NNR were originally designated as separate national nature reserves at different times: the Morton Lochs section was designated in 1952; Tentsmuir Point in 1954; and Tayport Heath in 1988. While these discrete sections are distant from one another, they form part of the extensive dune system at Tentsmuir, and in 2003 SNH combined the three sites to form Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve. The adjoining Tentsmuir Forest is managed by Forestry and Land Scotland and covers most of the land between the three portions of the NNR.

Open spaces

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Pittencrieff Park (known locally as "The Glen") is a public park in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It was purchased in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie, and given to the people of Dunfermline in a ceremony the following year. Its lands include the historically significant and topologically rugged glen which interrupts the centre of Dunfermline and, accordingly, part of the intention of the purchase was to carry out civic development of the area in a way which also respected its heritage. The project notably attracted the attention of the urban planner and educationalist, Patrick Geddes.

Riverside Park is a large town park situated in Glenrothes, Fife. The park straddles the River Leven valley riparian corridor, comprising significant areas of woodland, grassed playing fields and wetlands. The Lothrie Burn flows through the park as a tributary connecting to the River Leven.

Riverside Park has numerous pleasant woodland walks, floral gardens, a pond, community orchard and an arboretum. The park also has several equipped play areas, numerous town art sculptures, adventure play areas, skateboard ramps, seasonal toilets and fitness equipment. Some of the park's town art was gifted to Glenrothes by its twin town Boblingen, Germany.

Craigtoun Country Park is a country park located approximately 2 miles to the south-west of St Andrews in the county of Fife, Scotland. The site is currently owned by Fife Council, with park amenities being operated as of 2012 by the charitable organisation Friends of Craigtoun Park. The park was originally part of the Mount Melville Estate, 47 acres (19 ha) of which was purchased by Fife County Council for £25,000 in 1947.

The Lomond Hills are a group of hills on the border of Fife and Kinross-shire in central Scotland, including East Lomond, West Lomond, and also Bishop Hill. At 522 metres (1,713 ft), West Lomond is the highest point in the Lomonds as well as the highest point in Fife.

The views from both summits, due to their prominence, are magnificent, stretching from the Highlands to the Borders, with the sea in the east. As well as walking, there are a number of other recreational activities that take place in the Lomonds. East Lomond, due to the easy access from the high car park, is often used by paragliders on windy days. The Falkland Hill Race is held annually and begins at the fountain in the centre of Falkland village. The competitors must run (or in many cases walk) to the summit of East Lomond before returning to the fountain. The wooded northern slopes of East Lomond also boast a series of downhill mountainbike tracks. Gliders from the Scottish Gliding Centre at Portmoak between Bishop Hill and Loch Leven may be seen riding the thermals above the hills. W

Fairer, kinder

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A Fairer Fife, our.fife.scot/plan4fife

News archive

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  • News St Andrews Men's Shed, Now officially based at Craigtoun, friendsofcraigtoun.org.uk/news (Nov 29, 2023)
  • News Self-driving buses that go wherever you want? How the UK is trying to revolutionise public transport, theconversation.com (Sep 29, 2023)
  • News I Rode the World's First Autonomous Public Bus Service, cnet.com (May 18, 2023)

About Fife

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Past events

  • Event 30 Jan 2023 - 5 Feb, 2023, Mon - Sun — Green Week (St. Andrews)

Communities

Fife is divided into 105 community council areas, 85 of which have community councils as at 2023. W

Fife ( FYFE, Scottish English: [fɐi̯f]; Scottish Gaelic: Fìobha [ˈfiːvə]; Scots: Fife) is a council area and lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the south, Clackmannanshire to the south-west, and Perth and Kinross to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Dunfermline, and the administrative centre is Glenrothes.

Fife has an area of 512 square miles (1,330 km2) and had a resident population of 374,760 in 2024, making it Scotland's 3rd largest local authority area by population. The population is concentrated in the south, which contains Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. The north is less densely populated, and the largest town is St Andrews on the north-east coast. The area is governed by the unitary Fife Council. It covers the same area as the historic county and former region of the same name.

Fife was one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. The University of St Andrews is the oldest of the ancient universities of Scotland and one of the oldest universities in the world, and the Old Course at St Andrews the world's oldest golf course. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer.

See also

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Page data
Keywords Sustainable community action
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related subpages, pages link here
Redirects Fife community action
Views 17 page views (analytics)
Created December 30, 2023 by Phil Green
Last edit January 20, 2026 by Phil Green
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