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Faiths for Land

Faith-based organizations own and manage around 8% of the world's habitable land and roughly 5% of all commercial forests. That scale of land, combined with their moral authority, makes them major partners in global restoration. Faiths for Land gives them the training and the partners they need to restore land that has been degraded.

In partnership with
G20 Global Land Initiative & UNCCD UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
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8%

of the world’s habitable land is owned or managed by faith-based organizations.

900+faith-forward organizations in the network
15.3Mhectares of land represented
330M+trees grown by faith organizations over the past twenty years

Figures from the G20 Global Land Initiative.

Most faiths ask their followers to look after the land.

  • “When we restore ecosystems, we reclaim our ability to collaborate as nature herself, and revive our relationship with the ecosystems we call home.”
  • “Faith-led restoration moves at the speed of pollination, in accordance with the pace of a mountain growing, and in the language of deep time.”
  • “Faith institutions bring unique assets beyond their significant land holdings, which comprise 8% of global habitable land, framing restoration as both spiritual and environmental transformation.”
  • “Restoring ecosystems is akin to re-learning an ancient language; with each species returned and wetland regenerated, we become more fluent in the dialogue of life.”
  • “Internally, we must cultivate coherence between inner and outer restoration, recognizing that our personal and collective flourishing is inextricably linked to the health of our planet.”
  • “Ecosystem restoration should rekindle, heal, and reconcile the relationship between ourselves: humans, the land, the rest of nature.”
  • “The Midrash teaches, if not for trees, human life could not exist.”
  • “Faith traditions maintain multi-generational timeframes that align naturally with restoration timelines. This perspective supports restoration goals that require extended ecological processes.”
  • “Land restoration is an act of reconciliation: between past and future, between human ambition and nature's wisdom, between what we've taken and what we must give back.”

Faith communities can restore land at a scale few others can reach.

Up to 40% of the world's land is degraded, and about 3.2 billion people live with the consequences. The G20 Global Land Initiative and the UNCCD have set out to halve the world's degraded land by 2040. Governments will not get there on their own.

Faith communities also run around half of the world's schools. When the G20 Global Land Initiative surveyed more than 100 faith organizations across 24 countries for its Faith Stocktake, 92% said caring for the natural world was already part of their mission.

Only 28% had a written restoration policy, and 76% said they lacked the technical knowledge to begin. The commitment is there. What is missing is practical support: money to do the work, and people who know how to guide it. That is the gap Faiths for Land exists to close.

Two ways to get involved

The masterclass and membership are two different things. You are welcome to choose one, or to do both.

For individuals

Take the masterclass

A free online course of nine modules that takes you from the big picture to a finished, fundable plan for restoring land where you live. It is open to everyone, and you need no experience to start.

Reserve your free place → About 8 hours 40 minutes in total, taken at your own pace.
For organizations and partners

Join the Community

Bring your faith community, your expertise, your funding, or your voice in policy into the movement, and connect with partners already restoring land across 84 countries.

Join the Community → A short form asking who you are and where you work.

What Faiths for Land does.

01

Connect

We give faith organizations one place to find the people who can help them, from technical advisers and funders to established restoration groups such as WWF, WRI, and World Vision.

02

Train

The Faiths for Land Masterclass is free: nine modules built on the six-step Faith Tree Growing framework from WWF and Trillion Trees. It comes with facilitator guides, a worksheet for planning your own project, and a circle of fellow learners.

03

Speak up together

We bring faith leaders together to speak with one voice at United Nations meetings on land and at other global forums. More than 100 organizations from different traditions have now signed the Multifaith Call to Action.

04

Track the impact

Faith organizations have grown more than 330 million trees over the past twenty years, and plan 350 million more by 2030. Far fewer of those trees are followed up to see whether they survive. We gather the evidence and bring it to funders and policymakers.

The hands of an Indian woman planting a tree seedling, a Hindu temple in the distance
Free, with a certificate when you finish

Learn how to restore land in your community.

The masterclass shows you how to start a restoration project where you live and keep it going, drawing on the teachings of your own faith. You do not need a technical background to begin.

  • 9 modules
  • 8 hours 40 minutes
  • Certificate
  • Every tradition

The Faith Tree Growing framework

The six steps from WWF and Trillion Trees for growing trees to maturity, so they are still standing years after planting day.

Bringing your community in

How to involve your congregation, and how to build the partnerships and funding a project needs.

Choosing the right site

How to match species to place, read the condition of the land, and write a plan that fits your region.

Measuring your results

How to record which trees survive, and how to share what you learn with funders and policymakers.

In partnership with

How the masterclass works.

Reserve your free place today. All nine modules open together on 1 October 2026, and you work through them at your own pace, alongside a circle of fellow learners around the world. Two live sessions bring everyone together: 5 October and 30 November 2026, both at 3:00pm Central European time.

  1. Step one

    Reserve your free place

    Sign up today and your place in our first cohort is reserved. It is open to everyone, and you need no experience to start.

  2. Step two

    Learn at your pace

    Move through the nine modules whenever suits you, alongside a circle of fellow learners around the world.

  3. Step three

    Build your action plan

    Turn the six-step framework into a real restoration initiative for your own community.

  4. Step four

    Earn your certificate

    Complete the masterclass and receive your certificate, co-branded with the G20 Global Land Initiative, UNCCD, and WWF’s Beliefs & Values Programme.

Reserve your free place

Free to join, whatever your faith or background.

A figure in quiet meditation within a forest

Faith institutions manage farms, forests, schools and places of worship on every continent. That is where restoration can start.

Born from the G20 Global Land Initiative

Faiths for Land is an independent coalition, grown out of two years of work with faith communities convened by the G20 Global Land Initiative and the UNCCD. That work brought faith leaders into a shared working group, produced a Faith Stocktake and a Multi-Faith Declaration, and brought faith delegations to UNCCD COP16 and COP17.

A restored river valley at golden hour, with young native tree plantings on the recovering slopes

For organizations and partners.

Join the Community. Whether you bring a congregation, technical skills, funding, or a voice in policy, you are joining a faith forward community already restoring land in 84 countries.

  • Faith communities: restore the land you look after, and bring your congregation into the work.
  • Technical and restoration partners: reach communities that are ready to act and need your expertise.
  • Funders: back projects through a network that is already in place.
  • Policy partners: work with organized faith voices at United Nations meetings on land and beyond.

Here on your own to learn? See the free masterclass instead →

Add your organization

Tell us who you are and how you would like to take part. Someone on our team reads every message.

A path winding through a green valley toward the sunrise

Ready to begin?

The masterclass is free and open to every tradition. Your community already cares about the land around it. This gives you a way to act on that, one step at a time.