Community-driven landscape and ecosystem restoration emerged following decades of conflict, insecurity, and overharvesting of natural resources. Through tree planting, nurseries, forest patrols, river restoration, and improved resource management, communities have strengthened ecosystem functioning.

The South Central People’s Development Association (SCPDA) is a federation of 17 indigenous Wapichan communities in Guyana that works to  secure indigenous land rights and promote socioecological resilience. 

The Inga indigenous people drove the Wausikamas Movement to create an alliance with the Colombian government to reclaim rights to tens of thousands of hectares of ancestral land through the expulsion of drug-related activity in the area. The Inga reforested and regenerated land that had been degraded as a result of poppy cultivation and established various livelihood options from organic crop cultivation.

The Kayapó indigenous peoples are consistently fighting to defend their ancestral land from the deforestation pressures facing the Amazon. These defensive actions to preserve the integrity of their land are further supported by investments in sustainable farming and agroforestry to reduce community impacts on the ecosystems they aim to protect.

A women-led community conservation group manages a howler monkey sanctuary to promote biodiversity conservation and help improve local livelihoods.

DECOIN, a locally managed non-profit organisation, facilitates forest restoration and community watershed management and promotes alternative sustainable livelihood options to combat the influence and impacts of copper mining in the area.

27 village water committees have come together to guide community-based, decentralised water management, reforestation, and agroforestry. Widespread planting of native tree species, improved monitoring of water sharing and use between communities, and reduced dependence on local firewood have improved the availability of potable water and increased biodiversity and agricultural productivity in the area.

In the early 1970s, elders in the town of Ando Kpomey proposed creating a “green belt” or forest buffer around the town to mitigate the impacts of bushfires that frequently devastated the community. By 2013, as a result of annual planting efforts, this green belt had expanded into a 350-380 meter wide community forest ring.

Monks Community Forest is an 18,261-hectare evergreen forest in northwest Cambodia in which a unique approach to law enforcement based on Buddhist principles demonstrates the power of linking conservation with traditional customs and beliefs.