29 May 2026 — Governments, donors and environmental institutions must do more to align ecosystem restoration policies with the realities faced by young restoration practitioners on the ground, according to a new report released today by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Youth Task Force.
The report, Policy coherence gaps affecting youth-led ecosystem restoration: insights from multi-regional youth initiatives, examines the disconnect between global restoration ambitions and the policy, financing and governance systems currently available to support youth-led restoration efforts.
As countries work to implement biodiversity, climate and land restoration commitments under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the report argues that stronger policy coherence will be essential to scaling effective, locally grounded restoration initiatives and ensuring young people can participate meaningfully in restoration governance and implementation.
The report synthesises evidence gathered through a global literature review, an exploratory youth survey, and regional focus group discussions with youth leaders from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe.
While young people are already playing substantial roles in restoring ecosystems and strengthening community resilience, the report finds that policy implementation often fails to reflect the operational realities of youth-led initiatives. Across all research methods, consistent barriers emerged related to inaccessible financing systems, short-term funding cycles, administrative constraints, weak institutional support, and limited inclusion in environmental decision-making.
“Youth engagement should not be treated as an outreach activity or symbolic form of participation,” the report states. “It should be recognised as a core governance, implementation and investment priority within restoration systems.”
Funding and governance gaps limiting restoration impact
The report identifies funding constraints as one of the most significant barriers affecting youth-led ecosystem restoration globally.
More than half (53.3 per cent) of youth-led restoration initiatives captured in the survey reported receiving no external support, while funding constraints emerged as the most frequently identified barrier across the evidence base. Existing financing mechanisms were found to be difficult to access, administratively burdensome and poorly suited to the long-term nature of ecosystem restoration.
The findings also highlight a mismatch between short-term project funding cycles and the sustained investment needed to maintain restoration outcomes over time. In many cases, available funding supports isolated activities such as tree planting or infrastructure development while excluding monitoring, capacity building, community engagement and long-term stewardship.
The report additionally identifies a persistent gap between formal recognition of youth within environmental policy frameworks and meaningful inclusion within restoration governance systems. Although youth participation is increasingly referenced in environmental strategies and consultation processes, young restoration practitioners often remain excluded from implementation planning, financing decisions and long-term governance processes.
The findings suggest that ecosystem restoration policies frequently remain disconnected from local realities and insufficiently responsive to the needs of grassroots restoration practitioners.
Five priorities for policymakers
Based on the evidence collected, the report outlines five cross-cutting priorities for strengthening youth-inclusive ecosystem restoration policy and implementation:
- Moving from symbolic participation toward shared governance
- Shifting from short-term projects to long-term institutional investment
- Recognising restoration as both an ecological and socioeconomic strategy
- Strengthening locally embedded and community-led approaches
- Building institutional systems that trust, resource and legitimise youth leadership
The report also calls for more accessible financing mechanisms, stronger institutional recognition of youth-led organisations, investment in long-term capacity-building, and greater integration of Indigenous knowledge and community stewardship into restoration systems.
Supporting restoration leadership on the ground
The report documents a wide range of youth-led restoration initiatives currently underway across forests, freshwater systems, coastlines, wetlands, farmlands and urban ecosystems.
Projects highlighted include coral reef rehabilitation in Indonesia and Bermuda, cloud forest restoration in Ecuador, watershed restoration in Cameroon, wetland restoration in Chile, and mangrove and mountain spring restoration projects across Asia and Africa.
The report concludes that strengthening support for youth-led restoration can help accelerate progress toward global biodiversity, climate and sustainable development goals while building more resilient communities and ecosystems.
This report was developed by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Youth Task Force with funding support from the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in partnership with Plant-for-the-Planet and Green Canopy Envirocare.