Restoration Academy engages young people in ecosystem restoration camps
Being a youth-led collective, we at RE-PEAT are keen to inspire other young people to engage with and take part in the restoration of our precious peatlands
WHAT IS RESTORATION ACADEMY?
Restoration Academy: Empowering Youth Participation in Nature Restoration is an Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (KA220-YOU), which runs from 2023-2026 with five partner organisations: Youth Academy (Finland), the Finnish Nature Association (Finland), KMOP (Greece), Tree of Life (Slovakia) and RE-PEAT (the Netherlands). The project aims to inspire both youth workers and young people to contribute to bringing back nature across Europe by organising restoration camps and developing tools for outdoor learning.
Activities in the project include; researching the state of nature-based environmental education in Slovakia, Finland, Greece and the Netherlands, organising nature restoration training camps, creating an operations model and a tool pack to promote youth participation in nature restoration, producing three demonstration videos on nature restoration, and an animation on the operations model, and hosting training sessions for youth workers and other educators from the youth, environment, and education and training sectors interested in the topic.
INTRODUCING THE YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD!
One of the ways we are contributing to the project is by leading the Youth Advisory Board (YAB).
The YAB ensures that young voices are heard and centred within the project. It is also a space for young people to contribute to the design, planning, and outputs of the project.
WHY RESTORATION CAMPS?
Hands-on restoration camps are a win-win. They support our threatened ecosystems by working on hard to reach parts of the land, which cannot be accessed by machinery. Also, they are opportunities for community building, informal learning and fun. We believe that through these camps and training programmes, we can build more resilience, motivation and active hope for everyone involved. Find out more about the research behind the project here.
Want to learn more about the Finnish and Slovak camps?
Read these blog posts!
You can also find out more about the camps in these videos. For Greek, Slovak & Finnish subtitles you can follow this link: Nuorten Akatemia - YouTube
DUTCH RESTORATION CAMP 2025
From October 2024 onward, RE-PEAT coordinators and YAB members designed and planned the Dutch nature restoration camp. In May 2025, our vision came to life as 35 young people from across Europe gathered in the Netherlands to restore peatlands together. We welcomed a diverse group of participants, including those who might not typically see themselves as “environmentalists.” The camp’s activities explored the connections between agricultural, social, and ecological systems, aiming to challenge conventional views on farming, urban landscapes, and wildlife. With a focus on peatlands, paludiculture, and climate resilience, the camp offered a space for new perspectives on environmental stewardship to emerge, encouraging learning, questioning, and reimagining our role in the natural world.
For more information about the Restoration Academy reach out to info@re-peat.earth or contact the project coordinators directly.
Reflections and moments from the camp, now on our blog!
The project is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (KA220-YOU) and implemented in 2023-2026, with partner organisations from four different countries.
