SELVA and Yayra Glover Ltd. named winners of the RestorLife Awards 2026
August 20, 2026
Restor Communications
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 20 August 2026 - Colombian conservation organisation SELVA and Ghanaian regenerative agriculture business Yayra Glover Ltd. have been named the winners of the RestorLife Awards 2026, selected from 15 finalists working to restore nature around the world. The awards celebrate outstanding leadership in restoring nature and strengthening the communities who depend on it.
The winners were announced on stage at the UNCCD Pavilion (Action Dome) during COP17 as part of a joint awards evening hosted by the UNCCD G20 Global Land Initiative, Restor and the Greenstorm Photo Festival.
SELVA received the RestorLife NGO Award and USD 10,000 from the G20 Global Land Initiative, alongside USD 6,664 raised through the RestorLife crowdfunding campaign with Ma Earth, where donor contributions were matched by Ma Earth. This includes USD 2,376.59 in donations, USD 4,287.51 in matching funds, and a USD 1,000 bonus.
SELVA combines biodiversity science with community-led restoration. The nonprofit has restored more than 100 hectares of tropical ecosystems in Colombia and planted over 70,000 native trees. It works with farmers, students and community leaders to restore fragmented landscapes while using birds and biodiversity monitoring to reconnect people with the ecosystems around them.
“The RestorLife NGO Award celebrates a journey that started by studying the birds that connect our landscapes across the Americas. Today, we work with communities to restore those landscapes, and this recognition inspires us to keep that journey going.” Sergio Esteban Lozano Baez, Ecosystem Restoration Coordinator at SELVA.
Yayra Glover Ltd. received the RestorLife Business Leadership Award for its regenerative approach to Ghana’s cocoa sector. The company works with more than 5,000 registered and certified organic smallholder farmers, combining organic cocoa production, agroforestry and local processing.
“This recognition belongs to the more than 5,000 organic farming families who took a risk on certified organic cocoa in 2007, when nobody in Ghana had tried it at scale. What they proved is that cocoa is a forest plant, farmed properly; restoration is not a cost added on top of the business, it is the business. If restoration is not bankable on a single family farm, it will not happen at the scale the world is asking for.” Yayrator Glover, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yayra Glover Ltd.
The ceremony brought restoration leaders together with policymakers and practitioners during UNCCD COP17, with the RestorLife Awards presented alongside the Greenstorm Photography Awards. The RestorLife Awards recognize initiatives demonstrating proven ecological impact, long-term vision, meaningful community involvement and responsible stewardship.
About Restor:
Creating a world where every action positively impacts nature. Restor is an open-data, geospatial platform that offers nature stewards access to the latest ecological science for impact storytelling. With over 341,000+ sites, Restor is the largest network of community-led restoration and conservation efforts across the globe. Through Restor, governments, companies, impact funders, and financial institutions can connect and contribute to the regenerative use of the land we all depend on. Visit Restor and sign up today, and view our trailer.
Contact Details
Aleenah Masud
Comms, Restor
About G20 Global Land Initiative:
The ambition of the G20 Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats (G20 Global Land Initiative) is to scale land restoration in all terrestrial ecosystems to achieve a 50 percent reduction in degraded land by 2040. The Initiative, which was launched in 2020 under the G20’s Saudi Arabia Presidency, is hosted by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification based in Bonn, Germany.
Contact Details
Communications Coordinator
UNCCD G20 GLI
