How regional learning networks are created
When building regional learning networks, we first unite people within bioregions – ecologically defined areas – bringing them together in ‘labs’ to share ideas and experiences. We then invite leaders from every lab and landscape to join regional learning networks. There, they can build long-term collaborations with relevant landscape stakeholders, inspiring hope and overcoming systemic barriers, such as lack of financial infrastructure, or policies that limit their work.
Regional learning networks at a glance
AFRICA
Ubuntu Lab
Commonland, Presencing Institute and Ubuntu Lab Institute are collaborating to accelerate landscape restoration in Africa, which is home to 16% of the global human population and covers a fifth of the planet’s land area. We are supporting and further enabling communities and initiatives across Africa to regenerate landscapes as a foundation for thriving societies in resilient ecosystems. Learn more here.
EUROPE
Bioregional Weaving Labs
Bioregional Weaving Labs is a growing collective of international system-changing organisations, including Presencing Institute, Ashoka and Commonland. Together, we support communities to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss through creating regenerative economies. The programme aims to regenerate 1 million hectares of land and sea in Europe by 2030. It brings together local innovators, farmers, policymakers, corporates, NGOs and citizens by setting up Bioregional Weaving Labs through which they can collectively define a shared vision for their region.
To learn more, please watch this video.
4 Returns Lab in the Netherlands: The Transition Hub
Facilitated by Commonland, this 4 Returns Lab (known in Dutch as the “Versnellingshuis”) in the Netherlands strives to achieve system change within our home country. The Dutch learning network is in the process of setting up 15 landscape labs – or system labs – in which regional governments, companies, social organisations and initiatives, and farmers collaborate with other stakeholders to create a vision or action plan for their area and help remove systemic barriers to change.
4 Returns Labs: providing the foundations for regional learning networks
4 Returns Labs are a series of workshops that bring stakeholders together to learn from and alongside each other. The emphasis is on learning as a mutual experience as all participants explore the underlying causes of land degradation, create a shared vision and formulate action plans for their landscapes together. Leaders from labs are invited to join regional learning networks to further their long-term collaboration and create systems change at scale.
