At Unearthodox, regeneration is not just a concept – it represents a pathway to systemic change

Regenerative Futures is a multi-year journey that began by deeply exploring what regeneration means to different people across geographies, cultures, and lived realities. The programme unfolds in phases from the reframing phase dedicated to listening, questioning and expanding narratives of what it means to live, govern, and create regeneratively. 

Insights from this collective inquiry now shape the programme’s next phase: an incubation phase focused on surfacing and supporting bold innovators who are bringing regenerative principles and practices into real-world contexts.

The Advisory Group is a collective of cross-disciplinary experts who will provide strategic inputs and guide the evolution of the programme. They will challenge our assumptions, encourage bold ideas, and provide critical feedback, thus shaping the direction and impact of the programme. 

The growing interest in regeneration reflects an urgent need to move beyond sustainability and rethink how societies and ecosystems can thrive together. However, despite its increasing popularity, the understanding of what truly regenerative systems look like at social-ecological scales is still evolving. Without careful consideration, there is a risk of replicating past limitations, such as vague definitions, greenwashing, and the appropriation of knowledge from Indigenous and local traditions, reinforcing colonial dynamics rather than challenging them.

Regeneration is not a new idea. Many Indigenous and community-based traditions have long embodied regenerative ways of living, guided by principles of reciprocity, interconnectedness and care for the land. Yet, these perspectives have often been overlooked or undervalued in dominant environmental and economic systems. For regeneration to drive real transformation, it must be grounded in a diversity of perspectives, particularly those historically excluded from mainstream narratives.

The urgency of ecological and social breakdown demands immediate action, but action without reflection risks reproducing the very systems it seeks to transform.

Throughout the Reframing Phase, the programme was shaped by three guiding questions:

• Whose voices and values should shape this vision?
• How can we embed justice, inclusivity and decolonisation at its core?
• What is needed to turn regeneration from an idea into a real-world impact?

Rather than seeking quick answers, the programme created spaces to sit with complexity, tension, and contradiction.

Building on insights from the Reframing Phase, Regenerative Futures is now entering its incubation phase.

Through the Sparks of Regeneration open call, innovators, disruptors, and changemakers were invited to submit bold ideas that bring regeneration to life across conservation, climate, food systems, governance, education, and well-being.

The incubation phase will support selected initiatives through learning, collaboration, and strategic support translating shared insights into real-world experimentation.

Incubation is not a departure from inquiry, but its continuation through action.

In this incubation phase, the Regenerative Futures programme is focused on supporting innovators as they translate regenerative thinking and knowing into real-world practice and being.

As this phase unfolds, we will continue to share reflections, learnings, and milestones from the innovators and the incubation programme through updates on this website and across our social media channels. 

Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.