Presentation short abstract

This paper develops the foundations for a "future oriented" vision of ecosystem restoration, grounded in the values, lived experiences, and aspirations of people living in landscapes being targeted for restoration.

Presentation long abstract

Ecosystem restoration has emerged as a global environmental priority, with potential to support more sustainable and thriving landscapes around the world. Despite this, dominant narratives often frame restoration as the recovery of ecosystem functionality, and thus offer limited guidance for navigating the broader societal ends toward which restoration should be pursued. In this paper, we lay the foundation for a future-oriented vision of restoration: one grounded in the values, lived experiences, and aspirations of people and societies. We ask: Toward which future should we restore? We discuss the institutional and epistemic factors that constrain future-oriented restoration action, and we identify principles that can help expand imagination toward potential transformations. Finally, we discuss how these insights can shape policy and practice by informing arrangements for governance, enhancing inclusive knowledge systems, and through more creative planning and design. A futures lens, we argue, can illuminate trade-offs among competing values, help identify positive feedbacks between ecosystem functionality and human well-being, and catalyze transformative action toward long-term social and environmental goals.

Presentation short abstract

In this paper we conduct a comparative case study (treating each concept as a case) of a set of concepts associated with the notion of "going back" or returning to a previous state, including restoration, resilience, reclamation, remediation, and more recently, regeneration and rewilding.

Presentation long abstract

A diverse set of concepts has been introduced by different communities of environmental scholars and practitioners to capture the importance of returning to a previous state. Among these we can count the following: restoration, reclamation, remediation, and more recently, regeneration and rewilding. Each of these concepts has represented a governance or management approach and received both advocacy and criticism. The concepts of resilience and robustness also refer to a desirable return, typically as the ability to “bounce back” following a disturbance. In this paper we conduct a comparative case study (treating each concept as a case), evaluating each concept along the following dimensions:

What social groups (e.g., scientific disciplines, professional associations) have advocated for or against a concept, and if the advocacy of this concept has been associated with the criticism of other concepts;

What aspects of the environment and human-environment relations is the concept applied to (e.g., forestry, coastal hazards, urban systems, pollution);

Whether it is framed primarily as a governance approach (input) or a desired outcome (output);

If and how it relates to dynamics of equilibrium and feedback (positive or negative);

The extent to which the concept represents relatively superficial coping strategies, deeper adaptive responses, or fully transformational transitions.

Whether it is framed primarily in technical, political, or cultural terms; and

Whether it applies mainly to nature, to humans, or to both (e.g., rewilding is framed both as an environmental management strategy and as a personal and social transformation).

Presentation short abstract

Land restoration initiatives can be enhanced by leveraging local perspectives. This study employs photovoice and the SHOWeD framework to co-create grassroots land health indicators in Argentina and Kenya–Uganda. Evidence highlights the role of ecological, social, and demographic dimensions.

Presentation long abstract

Land degradation affects over a quarter of the Earth’s land and impacts over 3.2 billion people. Restoration efforts are growing worldwide, but conventional monitoring often overlooks local perspectives. In this study, we piloted the use of photovoice—a participatory visual method—combined with the SHOWeD framework to co-create grassroots socio-ecological indicators of land degradation and health in the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest (Argentina) and the Karamoja rangelands (Kenya–Uganda borderlands), centered on local voices to align restoration strategies with their realities.

In Karamoja, 94 participants from diverse demographic groups were recruited in WestPokot county, Kenya. Each participant photographed degraded and healthy land. These images served as prompts for interviews and FGDs, stratified by gender and age. The SHOWeD framework guided conversations about land health indicators, degradation processes, impacts on daily life, and actionable restoration measures. Healthy land was associated with vegetative cover, soil quality, livestock patterns, and water access. Community members linked degradation to overgrazing, invasive species, and unpredictable rainfall. Consequences included reduced livestock, food insecurity, scarcity of resources, and increased tensions, while suggested restoration actions ranged from rotational grazing to rainwater harvesting. The project produced over 400 annotated images and transcripts, generating a strong evidence base for policy and research.

In Misiones, Argentina, participatory workshops with secondary and technical students identified key indicators of forest health and degradation, such as canopy structure, invasive species, soil condition, and water availability. Discussions highlighted the Atlantic Forest’s biodiversity, cultural significance, and environmental pressures, offering insight into youth’s perceptions of forest change and future prospects.

Presentation short abstract

Creative methods enhance understanding of forest restoration processes and outcomes and are a tool for the iterative planning and design of future adaptive strategies. The research assesses design-based tools and workflows, and reports on their application in a case study in Connecticut, USA.

Presentation long abstract

As futures thinking seeks to navigate uncertainty, methods that enable the visualization of social, ecological, and technical systems provide a means to create shared spaces for debate, integrate diverse perspectives and to explore alternatives to the status quo. While creative methods are commonly employed in design disciplines and participatory planning, their application and effectiveness in forest restoration contexts remain less understood. For example, how might visualization strategies provide deeper insight into different stages and scales of restoration, help navigate social-ecological complexities, account for layered management histories, and acknowledge the agency of non-human nature?

This presentation outlines the use of creative methods applied to research on forest restoration on private forest lands in Connecticut, USA. Within this context, the research examines the application of visualization tools used in landscape design applied to inventory, analysis, and speculative visioning, to assess their relevance for forest restoration planning. The study asks: How can creative methods help navigate a plurality of values and aspirations for forest restoration across different spatial and temporal scales in this region?

The case study uses mapping, photography, film, and drawing to explore how state policy goals, landowner values, local and scientific knowledge, and the agency of non-human nature intersect in shaping these landscapes. The research outcomes provide insight into how creative tools enable critical reflection on the processes, outcomes, and possible futures of forest restoration. I present examples of how visualization tools can be combined and how these mediums can make human–environment relationships visible.

Presentation short abstract

We propose "Restoration to Thrive," a prospective framework for restoring 1 million hectares in the Eastern Himalaya. By integrating watershed approach, livelihoods, and One Health, we aim to build adaptive capacity that enables co-evolving social-ecological systems to flourish amidst future shifts.

Presentation long abstract

he Eastern Himalaya is a globally unique biodiversity hotspot and co-evolved bio-cultural landscape, now facing compounding threats from climate change and intensifying land-use changes driven by proposed major infrastructure projects. In this fragile context, the ambitious target to restore 1 million hectares risks becoming a reductive exercise in "green accounting" if divorced from local realities. Moving beyond static ecological baselines, we propose "Restoration for Resilience to Thrive," a strategic framework utilizing a prospective Complex Adaptive Social Ecological Systems (CASES) lens. We argue that restoration must serve as a generative pathway—one that not only mitigates shocks like wildfires and droughts and sustains vital biodiversity, but actively advances community aspirations for a landscape where human societies and nature do not merely coexist, but thrive.

Central to this approach is enhancing the capacity of complex adaptive social-ecological systems to self-organize, adapt, and learn. Rather than adhering to historical reference systems, our strategy envisions a framework that enables ecological systems to respond to anticipated socio-economic and biophysical shifts, building resilience to these changes while seizing new opportunities for growth. Grounded in the foundational principles of "do no harm" and "respect for community sovereignty," we operationalize this by carefully integrating watershed approaches with livelihood and One Health frameworks. This anchors the 1-million-hectare initiative in a model that prioritizes not just tree survival, but the flourishing of complex co-evolving social-ecological systems that help communities and biodiversity thrive.

Presentation short abstract

Restoration of open biomes often prioritizes tree planting, yet motivations for restoration remain unclear. Interviews with grassland restoration practitioners in India revealed that afforestation was prioritized for livelihoods and climate mitigation when grasslands are considered underutilized.

Presentation long abstract

Tropical open natural ecosystems (ONEs), which include grasslands and savannas, are often misinterpreted as degraded forests. Many global restoration initiatives view ONEs as land available to increase tree cover. However, planting trees in ONEs can have harmful social and ecological outcomes. In India, ONEs are classified as “wastelands", a colonial legacy that has justified widespread afforestation. Alongside government afforestation programs, several organizations target ONEs for restoration. However, it is unclear how restoration organizations perceive ONEs and how these perceptions inform onground restoration. In particular, it is unclear how historical narratives of ONEs as degraded and ‘unused’, and current imperatives to mitigate climate change influence restoration. This study examines how perceptions of, and motivations for, the restoration of ONEs shape restoration activities. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 restoration practitioners across six non-profits and the Indian forest department working across multiple states in India. We found that although ONEs are recognized as grasslands, there is uncertainty regarding their identification. Perceptions of ONEs and motivations for the restoration of ONEs were often linked: restoration for habitat protection arose from viewing ONEs as grasslands and prioritized planting native grasses and participatory dialogue with local communities. In contrast, restoration focused on livelihoods and climate mitigation stemmed from perceiving ONEs as underutilized and prioritized agroforestry. Organizations that engaged in tree planting highlighted challenges due to grazing, fires, and lack of water. By disentangling these contrasting approaches, this study identifies areas for greater clarity and consensus that can improve outcomes for ONE restoration in India.

Presentation short abstract

Restoration is widely implemented in the tropics, but with little understanding of how local people perceive restoration scaling. Through interviews with local landowners and practitioners, we find that scaling is viewed favourably, but mismatches in expectations among actors could misdirect scaling

Presentation long abstract

Large-scale restoration efforts focus on the tropics and sub-tropics, yet it remains unclear how these regions will respond to and implement restoration at scale. Several global and meta-analyses have mapped restoration potential areas, but their applicability has been critiqued at finer scales. Our research offers a qualitative exploration of local perceptions among landowners and practitioners regarding the scaling of forest restoration initiatives in two sites with active restoration work in the states of São Paulo, Brazil, and Gujarat, India. Through open-ended interviews with local landowners (n=65) and restoration facilitators (n=12), we present the opportunities and challenges to scale restoration initiatives across larger areas. Our findings showed that while most respondents agreed on the need to scale restoration, more than half at both sites expressed concerns about issues that must be addressed beforehand. Practitioners cited limited capacity and funding constraints, as well as the perception that smallholders often lack awareness of the benefits of restoration—potentially assuming that the benefits alone should motivate widespread adoption. In contrast, landowners understood the benefits, but smallholders lacked the autonomy to restore their lands, hindered by insecure land tenure in Brazil and rent-seeking practices in India. Across multiple actors, priorities differed: landowners prioritised long-term benefits, whereas many practitioners concentrated on short-term goals due to organisational constraints. Overall, although scaling restoration is generally viewed favourably, differences in priorities between landowners and restoration facilitators may misguide future scaling strategies. Our study demonstrates how qualitative analysis of local scaling priorities can be used to redefine future restoration goals.

Presentation short abstract

This study investigates co-management practices at two neighboring lake restoration projects in Bengaluru, India. Using a mixed-methods approach, including focus groups and archival research, this work shows how communities envision and negotiate socio-ecological futures of urban waterbodies.

Presentation long abstract

In rapidly urbanizing Bengaluru, India, efforts to restore the city’s historical lake (kere) network are more than ecological interventions to the city’s water management challenges; they serve as cultural, political, and imaginative projects that reshape relationships among communities, state institutions, and multispecies life. Community leadership is central to these restoration efforts, but there is limited literature on how shared resource governance between communities and the government, or co-management, contributes to socio-ecological transformation.

This research examines two neighboring projects, Benniganahalli and B. Channasandra (Kasturi Nagar), where local communities catalyzed the restoration of degraded waterbodies, partnering with government agencies and undertaking labor of ecological recovery. This study uses a mixed-methods framework, including archival research, qualitative focus groups, comparisons with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria, and a stakeholder network analysis to capture the situated experiences and tensions embedded in community-led restoration.

The results show that community groups occupy central bridging roles to connect community visions for restoration futures with enabling government agencies. For these communities, the process of restoration extended beyond environmental goals into re-envisioning local public spaces and ecosystem governance practices. Focus group discussions highlighted how co-management forces community groups to navigate political contestation and to negotiate between ecological and economic benefits, government priorities, and social inclusion within lake spaces. These results show the social complexities of restoration and contribute to growing scholarship on participatory governance models, highlighting how co-management can reconfigure not only ecosystems but also the meanings, relations, and governance practices through which urban nature is lived.

Presentation short abstract

Drawing on the case of Nepal’s community forestry development, this paper explores why we need to think forest landscape restoration beyond tree planting rather a long-term political process of institutional development and innovation for long-term ecological and local livelihood outcomes.

Presentation long abstract

Forest landscape restoration has become a key global environmental policy objective. The existing literature points to the need for local participation for positive restoration outcomes but pays limited attention to the political process of local participation for achieving the long-term positive outcomes. Nepal’s community forestry offers an interesting case to understand restoration as a political process with demonstrated results. Community forestry development in Nepal shows the mutually influential relationship between forest restoration interventions and the process of institution development and innovation. The initial agenda for restoration (narrowly understood as tree planting) in the mid-1970s provided a platform for the emergence of the community forestry program. The development of community forestry involved the political processes of devising a supportive national policy framework and building community institutions i.e., community forest user groups. These institutions, established from 1990 onward, fostered long-term positive outcomes in terms of recovery of once-degraded mountain landscapes and meeting local livelihood needs. Yet, these institutions face constant challenges to effectively set local restoration priorities as forest authorities dominate decision-making. Further, rapid socio-economic changes in the community led to declining collective action and these institutions have become redundant in the changed context. These challenges indicate the need for sustained political processes for strengthening and revising institutions for better livelihood outcomes. This analysis provides important theoretical and policy lessons towards thinking restoration beyond tree planting, rather a long-term political process of institution building and innovations.

Presentation short abstract

Drawing on multispecies ethnography of activist restoration at Princess Vlei, Cape Town, this paper proposes an approach to landscape restoration that is politically attuned to entangled histories, provides a path for just ecological futures, and reimagines who gets to determine biodiversity value.

Presentation long abstract

The implementation of restoration policies in local landscapes often frames conservation spaces as pristine and ignores the political, historical, and social life of threatened species. In Cape Town, South Africa the histories of extinctions are tightly entangled with histories of colonial and apartheid violence, however restoration policy does not go far enough to address these legacies, thus continuing an approach that is not politically sustainable and entrenches nature-society binaries. Using a case study of activist restoration at Princess Vlei, Cape Town, and drawing on multispecies ethnography conducted on the landscape, this paper draws on Haraway’s (2016) notion of “staying with the trouble” to propose an approach to landscape restoration that is politically attuned to entangled histories, provides a path for just ecological futures, and reimagines who gets to determine biodiversity value. This approach entails protesting degradation valuations by planting endangered species, advocating for the remediation of erased local plant ontologies, and, importantly, embracing ‘imperfect’ landscapes for restoration. Working with imperfect landscapes orients us away from the pristine and towards working with landscapes that have always been entangled with people. Here, histories risk de-politicisation as this land where forcibly removed people were dumped now sparks interest from conservationists and at some point, developers, prompting possible futures where people are once again locked out. Troubled landscapes therefore ask important questions about whose valuations matter and whose futures are accounted for. This work emphasises the entanglement of human and more-than-human well-being, not just as interrelationships, but as entangled histories, violences, and just futures.

Presentation short abstract

This paper explores ecology and memory in the former Cold War borderlands between East and West Germany. It presents specific environmental, political, cultural, and emotional strategies of restoration that reckon creatively with the border’s violent past and Germany’s ongoing reunification.

Presentation long abstract

This paper explores restoration in wounded landscapes by focusing on how ecology and memory connect in the former Cold War borderlands between socialist East and capitalist West Germany. Over four decades, from 1949 to 1989, the border’s violent imposition resulted in the destruction of dozens of homes and communities, the deaths of hundreds of East Germans, as well as the expropriation, displacement, and imprisonment of tens of thousands more. As the border depopulated central Germany, however, hundreds of endangered plant and animal species found refuge from increased industrialization elsewhere and in the process created new, emergent ecologies in the shadow of the wall. When the border regime collapsed, West and East German conservationists launched an effort to convert the region into a protected area called the Green Belt. Yet the transformation of these lands has not occurred without opposition, especially from landowners, farmers, and border victims’ associations. Here, I show how ecology – and the ambitions to restore, conserve, use, or change it – intersect with painful memories. In a place where the wounds of the Cold War remain exposed, restoration requires careful, empathetic practices that attend to both scientific principles and human feelings. By making vital connections between ecological theory and memory studies, this talk explores conservationists’ learning processes and specific environmental, political, cultural, and emotional strategies of restoration that reckon creatively with the border’s traumatic past and Germany’s ongoing reunification.

Presentation short abstract

We examine how long-term tree-planting interventions intersect with people’s everyday lives to better understand the diverse values and meanings derived from these landscapes, and the lessons it holds for the future of restoration practice.

Presentation long abstract

In the backdrop of ambitious international goals, forest restoration has emerged as an important policy agenda, along with the emergence of a range of different (and often competing) definitions and practices. However, in several countries such as India, landscape-level interventions have had a longer, contentious history that strongly influences contemporary ways of pursuing ecosystem interventions and future imaginaries of restoration.

Macro narratives tend to focus on the social impact of such long-term ecosystem interventions in terms of livelihoods or other limited aspects of non-material costs and benefits. However, not many studies examine the concrete ways in which people’s ‘everyday’ lived realities are shaped and reshaped through these interventions, or what this means for how they relate to the landscapes they are embedded in.

Using a case study of long-term tree-planting from Himachal Pradesh, India, we examine how people’s values and place-based relationships with the landscape have evolved over time, and how their hopes for the future of restoration are intertwined with broader life needs. Drawing from feminist political ecology, we emphasize the importance of looking at the ‘everyday’ – the practice of daily life – to uncover complex ways in which seemingly mundane experiences are tied to broader socio-ecological and political processes. Deconstructing scalar boundaries to examine the ‘local’, while recognizing interconnections across scale, helps render visible aspects often overlooked in analysis.

By foregrounding these lived experiences rooted in values and processes of meaning-making, this work seeks to advance understanding on what a just, people-centred restoration practice may look like.

Presentation short abstract

We analyze the differences between national policies, international discourses, and local future visions for restored landscapes in Malawi. We find that local people strongly value energy access and livelihood security, and need resources to achieve these goals.

Presentation long abstract

Restoration has emerged as a global priority in the last decade, however the global agenda has been designed by policymakers and environmental scientists, as opposed to the concerns of people who live in landscapes targeted for restoration. We aim to understand how restoration narratives and future aspirations vary among restoration actors in Malawi.

Drawing on 83 key informant interviews and 81 focus groups conducted in the summer of 2025 with farmers and local, regional, and national leaders, as well as analysis of policy documents, we examine how farmers in areas targeted for restoration conceptualize restoration and envision the futures of their communities, and how this differs from futures envisioned by national policies and international organizations.

We find that global and national narratives focus on forest loss and degradation in relation to carbon storage and biodiversity loss. However, local people emphasize broader concerns for energy access, livelihood security, agricultural productivity, health, water provision, cultural benefits of nature, and social cohesion. These findings demonstrate that farmers are interested in alternative livelihoods and energy sources which would reduce their dependence on forest resources and improve their broader well-being. While these connect to restoration goals, they indicate the need to restore life supporting socio-ecosystems, with potential additional climate and biodiversity gains. We also found that local people were concerned with the incentives and support systems, such as knowledge, training, and supplies, needed to sustain their participation in ongoing restoration efforts, reinforcing the need for adequate provision of support resources at the local level.

Presentation short abstract

Together with diverse restoration actors, we explored different future trajectories for the social-ecological restoration landscape in western Rwanda. Through this, we co-produced action-oriented strategies for how to move towards a restoration future that reflects diverse needs and preferences.

Presentation long abstract

Restoration activities unfold in landscapes shaped by complex human-environment interactions. Social-ecological systems thinking has evolved as a perspective specifically aiming to disentangle the social-ecological dynamics that shape such landscapes. As such, it is ideally suited to examine how links between humans and their environment shape contexts and outcomes of restoration and explore what this means for future restoration interventions. In this presentation, I share insights from transdisciplinary social-ecological systems research on restoration futures in western Rwanda. I will highlight two recent studies that use complementary methods to elicit diverse actors’ needs and preferences regarding the future of restoration in the study area. First, using a Three Horizons visioning process, we asked participants to assess beneficial and detrimental dynamics that characterize the restoration system in western Rwanda today, identify desirable future system states, and develop actionable pathways that connect the present and the future. Second, using participatory scenario planning, we invited participants to identify critical drivers of social-ecological change and discuss plausible future restoration trajectories in the study area to explore what the social-ecological restoration landscape in western Rwanda might look like in the year 2050. Through these two approaches, we were able to (1) make diverse actors assumptions and preferences explicit, (2) foster in-depth reflection and exchange on past, present, and future restoration in the study area, and (3) co-produce tangible, action-oriented strategies for how to move forward.

Presentation short abstract

Climate change raises questions about protecting and restoring old growth. We study how ecological and social factors, particularly human-environmental relationships, shape our views of these forests, challenging the notion of humans as separate from nature and of old growth as untouched.

Presentation long abstract

Mature and old growth (MOG) forests are invaluable ecological and cultural assets due to their biodiversity, environmental resilience, and capacity to inspire. Ongoing debates about terminology and management strategies for MOG highlight the need for a unified national approach that accommodates regional variations and local insights. Protecting and promoting MOG forests involves integrating climate change and species-specific considerations, raising questions about ecological baselines and restoration, especially in relation to Indigenous land management practices pre- and post-colonization.

Is old growth determined by age, size, biodiversity, or natural disturbances like low-frequency fire? Additionally, how do human perceptions shape our understanding of old growth, especially when considering the charismatic coastal Pacific Northwest forests, foiled by the once-historically vast but currently depleted longleaf pines in the Southeast? Our research investigates the interplay between ecological and social factors in defining and shaping MOG forests. The findings reveal current perceptions of humanity's role in old growth and mature forest systems amid widespread environmental change. We consider whether perceptions of restoration reflect a position in which humans are above nature, seeing it as a resource to commodify, or whether humans, being so detrimental to the environment, no longer (or never) belong in nature. Or do we engage in a system that can yield both beneficial and harmful outcomes? This inquiry challenges the view of old growth as 'unaffected by human influence,' seeking a broader understanding of our relationship with nature and its most precious and oldest systems under ecological change.

Presentation short abstract

Forest restoration in Madagascar often fails due to limited understanding of local priorities. Participatory mapping shows deforestation is driven by land scarcity and tenure issues, while communities envision especially ecological restoration, that supports livelihoods and strengthens land rights.

Presentation long abstract

Forest landscape restoration aims to mitigate climate change, restore ecological functions, and enhance human wellbeing across degraded tropical landscapes. While many countries have made ambitious restoration commitments, most initiatives fall short of achieving these multiple goals. Efforts remain dominated by fast-growing exotic tree plantations, with limited progress on restoring native species. A key challenge lies in understanding the socio-ecological context; why forests were cleared, and what local communities actually need and value. To address this, we conducted 45 participatory mapping sessions with 450 households across three regions representing Madagascar’s major forest biomes.

Participants mapped land use and land cover over four time periods: the past decade, the present, and two 10-year projections — one under a business-as-usual scenario and another reflecting desired future landscapes. Our findings reveal three key insights. First, taking stock of change shows that forest loss is primarily driven by the conversion of forests to agriculture and the pursuit of new private landholdings under customary tenure, and migration issue limiting natural regeneration. Second, under current trajectories, continued land scarcity, low agricultural productivity, and limited livelihood diversification are likely to further constrain support for native-tree restoration. Third, communities envision futures where restoration promotes sustainable land uses, including mixed cropping systems, woodlots, and explicit recognition of local land rights, even in the absence of formal titles. To achieve sustainable and equitable restoration, initiatives must align global restoration goals with local priorities, and overcome the social and institutional barriers that currently discourage community-led native-tree restoration.

Presentation short abstract

What makes restoration succeed? In Mexico's Mixteca Alta, communities and institutions answer differently. Communities define success through rootedness, enabling water, youth, belonging. Institutions measure trees and hectares. This mismatch matters: whose definitions shape restoration futures?

Presentation long abstract

International restoration frameworks celebrate Mexico's "success" 5.2 million hectares restored under Bonn Challenge commitments. Yet these metrics obscure fundamental questions: success for whom, defined by whom, and toward what future?

This research examines how different actors perceive and envision restoration success in two Mixteca Alta communities (Suchixtlahuaca and Tepelmeme), where people have led restoration for over 40 years from severe degradation. Through 50+ interviews, participatory mapping, and ethnographic observation, I reveal a fundamental mismatch in what successful restoration means.

Communities define success through "arraigo" (rootedness, intergenerational belonging, and territorial connection). Success means water returning, youth staying, knowledge flowing between generations, innovation (pine-maguey polycultures), and staying on their land. Arraigo emerges across ecological, social, economic, and cultural dimensions as what makes restoration persist beyond project cycles. Yet when asked to envision futures, communities expressed both hope and profound uncertainty. Some envision forests maturing, youth returning, communities thriving. Others fear demographic collapse, water scarcity, knowledge transmission breaking. Nearly all futures centred on one question: will the next generation stay or leave?

Institutional actors define success differently -tree survival rates, hectares covered- yet acknowledge these metrics' limitations. Analysis of 24 related policies reveals why: despite inclusion rhetoric, only 3 grant community’s decision-making power. Most position Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as "consultees" without control -the very structure that erodes arraigo.

This mismatch matters. Communities insist restoration must build futures they can inhabit. Institutions count trees. Transformation requires centring community values. Without it, you get metrics met but systems collapsing when programs end.