YECO 2025: Applications are open! A New Cohort, A Growing Movement

Author: Fabiola Nava, Youth Engagement Consultant, G20 GLI – UNCCD | August 8, 2025

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Youth Ecopreneneur Programme 2025, the next chapter in our flagship YECO Programme, co-led with ITC, empowering young entrepreneurs who are building the restoration economy from the ground up, with a special focus on two key categories: Land Restoration and Green Business.

Whether you’re transforming landscapes or redesigning how we do business with nature in mind — YECO 2025 is for you.

Now entering its new cycle, YECO continues to attract innovative youth-led ventures from around the world. Selected participants will gain access to a dynamic bootcamp, accelerator support, mentorship, visibility, and benefits such as investor access, Google Cloud credits, and international exposure.

For those in the Land Restoration category, the programme also includes access to grant funding — a core element of YECO’s support to help scale tangible restoration efforts and regenerative business models on the ground.

But YECO is more than a programme — it’s a launchpad for real transformation. And our alumni are proof.

From Confidence to Strategy: Real Impact from Real Youth

Martin Sikawa with employees

Martina Sikawa, YECO alumni 2024 and Co-founder of Chemolex, with members of the youth group employed by her company.

YECO alumni aren’t just pitching better ideas — they’re running stronger businesses. Since completing the programme, past participants have reported concrete, operational changes within their startups. From refining business models and marketing strategies to embedding ESG principles and strengthening delivery systems, alumni are translating YECO’s learning into measurable action.

The most common shift? Strategic clarity.

Founders leave YECO feeling more confident, focused, and future-ready — with a clearer vision and the tools to execute it. Others have improved customer engagement, expanded outreach using digital tools, and even launched new products after the programme.

What makes YECO truly special is the ecosystem it creates. Alumni consistently highlight the value of peer-to-peer learning, mentorship, and new partnerships sparked during the programme. This sense of shared purpose — of being part of a global generation committed to land restoration and climate resilience — is what sets YECO apart.

And it’s just getting started.

Want to be part of YECO 2025?

We’re looking for the next group of ecopreneurs ready to grow their ventures and their impact. If you or someone you know is building a youth-led solution for land, sustainability, climate, or community — now is the time to apply.

This year, it could be you!

Apply here >>

Stay tuned — the restoration economy is rising.

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.

Executive Director's Message

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