From knowledge to action: How the G20 Global Land Initiative’s online courses are empowering the next generation of land restoration leaders

Author: Nour Barakat, Intern, UNCCD G20 Global Land Initiative | April 28, 2026

Prof. Marwa Khalifa, Vice Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Research, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University (ASU), Egypt, during the “Trigger Change! Sustainable Urban Land Restoration” blueprinting workshop, November, 2024. Photo credit: Faculty of Engineering, ASU

Land restoration is one of the most defining challenges and opportunities of our time. Degrading land affects food systems, biodiversity and community livelihoods. This makes restoring depleted lands one of the most powerful pathways to healthier ecosystems and thriving communities, and why the Group of 20 (G20) countries made capacity building a key starting points for restoring land.

Not surprisingly, two open-access University courses on land restoration, designed for educators and practitioners teaching agriculture and urban planning have spread quickly.

Since its launch in 2024, Trigger Change! Innovative Sustainable Agriculture Solutions for Land Restoration has been downloaded over 1,200 times by educators in over 130 countries. Similarly, since its launch almost one year ago, Trigger Change! Innovations in Sustainable Urban Land Restoration, has been downloaded over 250 times by educators in 75 countries.

These numbers are striking as are the experiences by the educators using the courses, in terms of the course approaches, practicality and relevance both globally and locally.

A Holistic Approach

The urban course explores how cities can restore degraded land while enhancing resilience, biodiversity, and quality of life. Instead of focusing narrowly on site cleanup, the course encourages students to see urban land through the broader, systems lens.

According to Professor Marwa Khalifa, Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University in Cairo and one of our course developers, the program’s uniqueness lies in its integrated perspective.

“Restoration of degraded land goes beyond simply cleaning up contaminated sites or regenerating brownfields,” she explains.

“It incorporates the importance of ecosystem services and nature-based solutions in urban areas for promoting resilient, healthy and sustainable cities. Also, its transdisciplinary nature and its pedagogy, which is highly interactive and engaging through a combination of theoretical frameworks, case studies and hands-on exercises, [the] students will explore methods for restoring urban sites, implementing NbS [nature-based-solutions] and designing multifunctional urban spaces,” she adds.

Transforming Knowledge into Action

The urban restoration course focuses on landscapes and ecosystems. The agricultural course tackles human behaviour, a critical dimension of land restoration, and equips students with tools to design and lead initiatives that drive real change.

But the courses’ interactive formats also stand out.

“The course was so well received by my students that they requested that I teach it on Saturdays, beyond the regular teaching schedule,” says Professor Ernest Afrifa from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, with reference to the agricultural course.

He describes the discussions, real-life case studies and collaborative learning as an exciting novelty for his students.

Mr Michael Aboah from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, says the course was both intellectually stimulating and deeply practical.

It is “a transformative experience that deepened my understanding of behaviour change strategies in real-world contexts…. It strengthened my ability to analyse social and institutional barriers while equipping me with practical tools for designing sustainable interventions,” he explained.

Learning That Travels Across Borders

Among the most powerful aspects of these courses is their global reach. Both are designed as open-source resources. The agricultural course is available in English, Spanish and Arabic, with plans to add at least two more languages soon.

“The course offers interdisciplinary perspectives that help students connect land restoration, agriculture, climate change and socio-economic systems. Making the course open-source and accessible in multiple languages significantly enhances its global relevance,” says Dr Dyah Hizbaron, Department of Environmental Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

Dr Hizbaron noted that both courses are easily adaptable to local contexts and include case studies from around the world.

Impact on the Ground

Although the courses are designed mainly for professors teaching university students, a large number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are downloading the courses and adapting them to their needs, more specifically as catalysts for new initiatives and stronger community engagement.

Samba Faye, chief executive and founder of Plantation Nurseries, a Green Climate Social Enterprise working on sustainable agriculture and climate resilience in The Gambia, describes the agricultural course as “highly transformative.”

“The course strengthened my understanding of land restoration, leadership and community-driven action…. It has directly influenced how I design and implement restoration initiatives, particularly in engaging youth and local communities,” he says.

Beyond technical knowledge, the course is helping participants to build professional networks and partnerships across various countries and disciplines.

Paul Ole Leitura, founder of Tanzania-based Mulika Afrika, says he is already applying lessons from the course while working with Maasai communities.

“The training strengthened my understanding of community-led change. It helped improve how we work with Maasai communities through participation, dialogue, and local ownership of development activities,” he says.

These real-world applications demonstrate the courses’ central goal: turning knowledge into practical action for land restoration.

The Restoration Leaders of Tomorrow

As the global community restores degraded ecosystems and builds climate-resilient societies, education can and will play a critical role. The Trigger Change! courses demonstrate how accessible, interdisciplinary learning can empower people across sectors and geographies.

By blending scientific knowledge, practical tools and community perspectives, the courses are helping students, educators and practitioners to move towards informed action, whilst contributing to global knowledge production.

In essence, these courses represent an early contribution, a single part of the broader collective effort needed to help communities nurture thriving landscapes.

As Professor Marwa Khalifa aptly reminds fellow educators, “you are shaping the restoration leaders of tomorrow.”

Director's Message

The year 2024 was pivotal for the Global Land Initiative. Land degradation and restoration remained prominent on the global policy agenda throughout.

The UN Environmental Assembly, G7 Leaders’ Summit, G20 Environment and Climate Change Ministers’ meeting, and BRICS Leaders’ Summit addressed land degradation and committed to scaling up land restoration efforts.

The European Union passed a new Restoration Law mandating quantitative targets for land restoration. The UNFCCC, UNCBD and UNCCD Conferences of the Parties (COPs), held during the last quarter of the year, reinforced land restoration as a crucial solution to combat land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change.

Building on this favorable policy momentum, the Global Land Initiative continued to develop and deliver a robust program. In collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we completed a database on Global Restoration Commitments by countries under the UNCCD, UNCBD, UNFCCC and the Bonn Challenge.

Representing a significant increase in global commitments since 2021, the total global commitment now stands at 1.2 billion hectares, with 30 countries, including 11 G20 members, pledging to restore over 10 million hectares each.

The UNCCD, with financial support from the Global Land Initiative, published the first global restoration economy international report, titled, Investing in Land’s Future: Financial needs assessment for UNCCD. The report defines the private sector’s growing role in land restoration and its potential for creating green jobs.

The study outlines key recommendations to support the growth of the restoration economy, which has an associated market survey valued at $37 billion globally, growing at 8.2% annually and is projected to reach $70 billion by 2031. Together, these studies stressed the need for focused policy action to encourage private sector investment and engagement in the restoration economy.

Working with the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Global Land Initiative launched the first cohort of the “Global Ecopreneurs Program,” training 100 young entrepreneurs from restoration startups. These entrepreneurs received training on improving business plans and pitching to investors. We plan to scale this program regionally to reach 10,000 ecopreneurs by 2029.

Training remained a cornerstone of the Global Land Initiative, with programs on the restoration of mining areas, of urban lands, of lowland-based systems, of drylands and with biosaline agriculture. These trainings consistently attracted more applications than available slots. To accommodate this high demand and broader participation, we also conducted online webinars on these topics, in English, Arabic and French.

The first University Curriculum Course on Sustainable Agriculture for Land Restoration was launched this year. It reached over 400 university teachers, with over 100 trained on implementing the curriculum. A university module on urban land restoration is in its final stages.

Representatives from 25 countries attended the second Global Changemaker Academy for Parliamentarians held in Bonn. With the European Union Restoration Law’s passage, global best practices can now be discussed and adapted to national contexts.

The Global Land Initiative’s visibility surged with participation in the G20 Environment and Climate Change Working Group meetings in Brazil, the COPs of the UNCBD and UNCCD and 7 other international exhibitions. In December, the Initiative, in partnership with Germany’s Federal Museum of Arts and Sciences, opened the Save Land: United for Land Museum Exhibition, the first museum exhibition on land restoration, which will run until June 2025.

Online engagement grew, reaching over 35,000 newsletter subscribers and over 14,000 followers across social media platforms, and a global reach of nearly 400,000. The Global Photography Festival, which attracted 17,000 entries from 154 countries, further boosted visibility.

The Global Restoration Information Hub was launched in July 2024. It is a compilation of globally available data on land restoration from credible sources. The site provides information on global best practices, restoration commitments, best practice legislations, documentaries, restoration actors and other databases.

The Initiative issued a global call for communities and NGOs to submit their restoration projects for small grant support, receiving over 600 submissions from 100 countries. Forty-one projects from XX countries were selected for funding.

[Statement on faith, if the faith report is finalized]

The G20 Global Land Initiative Steering Committee was kept informed of developments through regular communication. It met in July and continues to provide guidance on program implementation. It received the work plan for 2025-26; an exciting period of action is ahead.

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