Across Africa, local communities are leading efforts to restore degraded lands and strengthen climate resilience. From the misty highlands of Kenya to the cocoa farms of southern Ghana and the slopes stretching across Burundi, Rwanda, and eastern DRC, the spirit of renewal has taken root and is becoming a movement.

Backed by Restore Local, these communities are transforming three of the continent’s vital landscapes by investing in the people who call them home.

In Kenya’s Greater Rift Valley, farmers are reviving native forests, protecting watersheds, and blending traditional knowledge with modern agroforestry. In the Ghana Cocoa Belt, cocoa growers are regenerating soils with shade trees and beehives, proving that restoration and livelihoods can grow hand in hand. And around the Lake Kivu & Rusizi River Basin, a tri-border region linking Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local groups are combining ecology, agroforestry, and business to regenerate soil, boost food and fish production, and protect biodiversity.

Explore these powerful stories to see restoration in action — and meet the local heroes leading the way. Together, they represent many other champions who are part of a rising continental movement: restoring ecosystems, reviving livelihoods, and reshaping Africa’s environmental future, one seedling at a time.