For the sixth year running, the Global Landscapes Forum has selected a group of young environmental experts from more than 1,250 applicants to help deepen their impact. The new cohort hails from Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Peru and Uganda.
Bonn, Germany (29 January 2026) – The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), a leading knowledge-led platform and community on sustainable land use, has selected five young experts from around the world to form its sixth cohort of Restoration Stewards. They are leading grassroots projects to restore drylands in Brazil, mountains in Cameroon, oceans in Indonesia, forests in Peru and wetlands in Uganda.
The Restoration Stewards program, run by the GLF and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), supports a group of innovators each year between the ages of 18 and 35. In 2026, the program will help scale their initiatives by matching them with seasoned and young mentors fostering local and international networking opportunities. It will also provide each steward with a EUR 5,000 grant, tailored learning opportunities, participation in policy forums and global spotlighting.
“The Restoration Stewards program is grounded in a simple truth: young people around the world are already pushing the boundaries of what is possible in landscape stewardship, community leadership and ecosystem restoration. Our responsibility is to match their courage and creativity with resources, trust and care.” – Eirini Sakellari, Youth Program Coordinator at the Global Landscapes Forum.
Selected from over 1,250 applicants worldwide, the 2026 Restoration Stewards represent the power of youth acting with their communities for their landscapes as part of a global network:
Care for the sea and maintain the balance of life
Gusti Ayu Made Mirah Rismayanti, 2026 Ocean Restoration Steward, Indonesia
A graduate in marine sciences, Ayu works conserving and restoring coastal and marine ecosystems at Mertasari Beach, particularly seagrass meadows, which are increasingly degraded along Bali’s coastline due to human pressure and environmental change.
She serves as marine mapping coordinator at the Bendega Alam Lestari Foundation, supporting data-driven seagrass restoration and informing conservation strategies and sustainable decision making.
Her restoration approach combines coastal mapping, blue carbon research, science-based methods and community participation and education, involving local fishers, volunteers and other coastal groups.
Through the foundation’s work to reverse the decline in Bali’s ecological health, Ayu transplants healthy native donor seagrass species with their natural substrates to restore degraded areas. This science-based restoration approach improves the prospects of planting success and seagrass survival.
“Caring for the sea is about maintaining the balance of life. Through the project Nyawiang Segara, we work together with coastal communities to preserve nature, sustain livelihoods and foster sustainable togetherness.” – Gusti Ayu Made Mirah Rismayanti, 2026 Ocean Restoration Steward
Treat the Earth as part of us, not as a resource
Breno Amajunepá, 2026 Dryland Restoration Steward, Brazil
Breno, an international relations student at the University of Brasília and an Indigenous Balatiponé-Umutina, works at the intersection of climate adaptation, biodiversity and environmental justice in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, located between the Cerrado and the Amazon.
He is a communications intern at the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) and member of both the Youth for Climate research group within the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and the biodiversity working group for the Engajamundo network – Brazil’s largest youth environmental movement.
With Engajamundo, Breno responds to the growing impacts of the climate crisis on the Balatiponé Umutina Indigenous Territory, where rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, declining fish stocks, agricultural losses, wildfires and health risks are undermining food security and traditional ways of life.
Through Indigenous knowledge and involving community leaders, elders, youth, schools and technical partners, they aim to strengthen community-led climate adaptation and territorial autonomy.
“I want a future where the Earth is treated as part of us and not as a resource.” – Breno Amajunepá, 2026 Dryland Restoration Steward
Reconcile with the nature that sustains us
Lizet Mejía, 2026 Forest Restoration Steward, Peru
Lizet is an environmental engineer, award-winning climate activist and co-founder of Trenzando MinkAyni. She supports the restoration of high Andean ecosystems in the Ancash region as project coordinator at Qinti Peru, integrating ecological restoration, citizen science, environmental education, ancestral knowledge and art.
Through community-, youth- and gender-centered approaches, she focuses on restoring queñual forests, which are vital for water security, Andean biodiversity, local livelihoods and climate resilience.
Lizeth employs community diagnostics and monitoring, the propagation of queñual seedlings and other participatory actions to protect these critical ecosystems, which are increasingly degraded by wildfires, glaciers retreat and climate change.
Alongside youth, rural women, peasant communities, local schools and territorial partners, she and Qinti Peru aim to recover degraded landscapes while strengthening local capacities, fostering youth and women as stewards of forests and water.
“Restoration led by young people means sowing the seeds of the future today: healing the Earth, strengthening communities and reconciling ourselves with the nature that sustains us.” – Lizet Mejía, 2026 Forest Restoration Steward
Restore hope and dignity for future generations
Ndumbe Knollis Mokake, 2026 Mountain Restoration Steward, Cameroon
A graduate in environmental geography, Ndumbe spearheads community-driven efforts to combat deforestation and address the climate crisis as the team lead of the Center for Agricultural Stewardship and Development (CASAD).
Growing up in Buea, he became inspired to restore land and pursue climate action and environmental justice after witnessing the impacts of the climate crisis and land degradation on smallholder farmers, families and internally displaced people at the foot of Mount Cameroon.
With CASAD, Ndumbe promotes sustainable, income-generating alternatives to reduce pressure on Mount Cameroon, whose communities have long depended on forest resources, timber extraction and unsustainable farming practices, while also facing exploitative middlemen, limited conservation awareness and ongoing civil unrest.
His team trains local residents, eco-volunteers, youth and internally displaced persons in organic farming, food processing and tree nursery establishment.
“I owe our mountain ecosystem a duty of change and envision a future where it breathes again, streams flow generously and young people choose restoration over depletion. Today, I’m not just planting trees and restoring mountain landscape but restoring hope and dignity for future generations.” – Ndumbe Knollis Mokake, 2025 Mountain Restoration Steward
Turn mining-destroyed lands into sources of life
Syliah Kagiiga, 2026 Wetland Restoration Steward, Uganda
Syliah is a geoscientist and co-founder of SBE Aquafarm, a social venture transforming abandoned clay mining sites into productive aquaculture hubs. Having seen how clay mining degrades wetland ecosystems in Western Uganda, she embarked on land restoration, blending technical methods with community engagement.
Kagiiga trains community members in sustainable fish farming to strengthen food security and livelihoods and collaborates with local organizations to support long-term impact. She now aims to scale this approach across Uganda.
Through an integrated model that combines aquaculture and agroforestry, she and her team transform abandoned clay mining sites into productive ecosystems and a reference point for land rehabilitation policies.
They establish fishponds, restore native tree corridors, build market linkages for local products and foster opportunities for hundreds of families. Their community-led approach and combination of geoscience and social innovation bring local women and youth from affected households together with district fisheries officers, and village leaders.
“I envision communities where destroyed lands become sources of life again, where young people build dignified futures through restoration, where nature and people heal together, and where every abandoned pit becomes proof that devastation is never the final story.” – Syliah Kagiiga, 2026 Wetland Restoration Steward
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NOTES TO EDITORS
- For more information and to arrange interviews, contact Kelly Quintero (k.quintero@cifor-icraf.org)
- Download photos of the 2026 Restoration Stewards and their landscapes here
- Download the 2026 program visuals on this Trello board
- Access the video launch of the 2026 Restoration Stewards here
- Find the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Bahasa Indonesia adaptations of this announcement in our Media Room
ABOUT THE GLF
The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable and resilient landscapes. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP and the World Bank, and its charter members. Learn more at www.globallandscapesforum.org.
ABOUT THE RESTORATION STEWARDS PROGRAM
The Restoration Stewards is a youth program rooted in care, landscape leadership, diversity, intersectionality and intergenerational equity. Launched in 2020 by the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), it aims to support the efforts of youth-led teams in holistically restoring their landscapes and seascapes while nurturing biocultural diversity. Learn more at stewards.globallandscapesforum.org.
ABOUT YIL
The Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) is a growing global network and movement of over 1.3 million young people working and studying in landscapes around the world. The Initiative is a partnership between the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA), Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), Youth 4 Nature (Y4N) and the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), who joined forces to deliver workshops, mentorship, training and networking. Today, YIL has become a global movement of young people committed to living and breathing the landscape’s philosophy: collaboration, diversity, and collective action. Learn more at youth.globallandscapesforum.org.
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