A new report finds that a chronic lack of funding is undermining youth-led environmental work worldwide. The report, titled “Ecologies of Empowerment: Why and how to fund youth-led biodiversity action,” argues that a current lack of adequate funding for youth biodiversity conservation initiatives threatens development of future generations of conservation leadership and action.
“Youth are already doing the work, restoring wetlands, defending territories, leading species conservation efforts, training next-generation leaders, and influencing global policy,” lead author of the report Félix Feide, told Mongabay in an email. “A core recognition of the report is that a biodiversity sector without a well-supported regeneration layer, will never be sustainable, and as a result our work will risk failing in the long term.”
The report was compiled by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, The Iris Project, Synchronicity Earth and the Global Landscapes Forum. The report authors surveyed 161 youth-led biodiversity initiatives from 57 countries and found that 93% of the contributors involved in such initiatives are volunteers.
The findings also show that 85% of youth initiatives lack adequate funding. “If you are among the fortunate 15% of young people who are able to access funding for biodiversity conservation, that is wonderful,” report co-author Swetha Stotra Bhashyam told Mongabay. “But for the rest of us, the reality is that there is no quick-fix approach, and we can no longer approach this work in isolation.”
Roughly 44% of surveyed organizations reported operating on less than $1,000 in 2024 and one-fifth of them had no funding.
Most of the funding was from small grants; 62% of the grants were under $10,000. Most of the grants, 58%, lasted less than a year and 88% were project-restricted.
Report co-author Eirini Sakellari told Mongabay in an email that conservation funders should work harder to engage young people. “Speak to youth-led organizations. Reach out to youth-led networks like the Global Youth Biodiversity Network and to funders already supporting youth-led work well. They are often the best guides to where your focus, values, and risk appetite can meaningfully contribute.”
Samantha Sithole, a youth conservation expert not affiliated with the report, told Mongabay that the report makes a compelling case for why funders should pay attention to youth-led biodiversity conservation. “It does excellent work showing the diversity of youth involved, the multifaceted nature of their initiatives, and the deep contextual knowledge and strategic thinking they bring to their work, despite facing persistent funding barriers,” she said in an email.
“I’d push the conversation further by asking how youth-led initiatives can be made more legible and attractive to local or indigenous governments and funding centers, so that homegrown projects can be sustained and embedded within their own communities rather than relying solely on external funders,” Sithole said.
Banner image: Children in Nepal attend school as part of a conservation project. Image by Jason Houston for USAID. (Public Domain)
