Ten-year initiative will support communities across the Indian Ocean region to restore threatened ecosystems while creating sustainable livelihoods. Launch comes amid growing pressure on international climate and development funding, highlighting the need for approaches that deliver both environmental and economic returns.

London, Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is launching ReGeneration, a major ten-year initiative designed to tackle one of climate action's toughest challenges: how to restore nature while importantly enabling the communities who depend upon it to prosper. 

Across six countries in the Indian Ocean region, ReGeneration will bring nature restoration and economic development together – creating sustainable livelihoods and new economic opportunities while protecting and restoring critical ecosystems. 

The initiative was recently launched as world leaders, governments, philanthropies and businesses gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and New York Climate Week, against a backdrop of increasing pressure on traditional sources of international development and climate finance. 

Across the Indian Ocean region, more than two billion people live in countries whose communities and economies are closely connected to the coast. But these communities are facing growing pressures from a changing climate and the degradation of the natural environments on which they depend. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall, more frequent and severe cyclones, floods and droughts, declining fish stocks and the loss of mangrove forests are putting livelihoods, food security and resilience at risk. 

As pressure on natural resources grows, communities need practical ways to adapt while securing sustainable sources of income. Over the next decade, ReGeneration aims to combat this by restoring 150,000 hectares of mangrove and coastal ecosystems, alongside supporting regenerative agriculture, sustainable fisheries, clean energy and enterprise development across six countries bordering the Indian Ocean. 

The initiative will support communities on the frontline of climate change to restore critical natural environments while creating new sources of income, jobs and economic opportunity. By linking healthier ecosystems with stronger local economies, ReGeneration seeks to demonstrate that environmental restoration and community prosperity can reinforce one another.

Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan said: “We have a shared responsibility to care for our oceans and the communities living along their coastlines. As part of the fight against climate change, our institutions are regenerating the shores of the Indian Ocean so that those who depend on them can thrive for generations to come.” 

Apoorva Oza, Global Climate Lead at Aga Khan Foundation, said: “Too often, climate action asks communities to protect nature without addressing the economic realities that determine how land, oceans and natural resources are used. ReGeneration starts from a different premise: protecting nature must work economically for the people who live alongside it. Whether through sustainable fisheries, regenerative agriculture, clean energy or new forms of enterprise, we want to create livelihoods that strengthen rather than deplete the natural environment. That is how restoration becomes sustainable, and how climate action can translate into stronger local economies and more resilient communities.” 

An early milestone in ReGeneration came in May 2026, when the Aga Khan Foundation and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), representing the French Republic, signed a EUR100 million declaration to support joint efforts to protect and restore coastal ecosystems across the Indian Ocean region, beginning in Mayotte, Madagascar and Tanzania.

The declaration, made in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron and His Highness the Aga Khan, anchors this wider ambition to drive $500 million of investment into this critical but neglected ecosystem. 

Upon the signing of the MOU in May 2026, Eleonore Caroit, French Minister Delegate to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said: “France’s partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network is one of the most enduring and impactful in our development cooperation. Today’s agreement, signed here in Nairobi at the Africa Forward Summit, demonstrates our joint commitment to addressing the climate and environmental challenges facing the African continent. Together with the Government of Tanzania, we are investing in the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems and in agricultural practices that strengthen food security and community resilience.” 

ReGeneration builds on decades of AKF experience working with communities to tackle poverty, improve livelihoods and strengthen resilience. Rather than treating conservation and economic development as competing priorities, the programme will work with communities to develop practical alternatives to activities such as overfishing, deforestation and unsustainable farming. 

This means restoring mangroves while developing more sustainable fisheries; supporting farmers to adopt regenerative approaches that improve productivity and soil health; expanding access to clean energy; or creating enterprises and jobs connected to healthier natural environments. The ambition is to demonstrate a model in which communities have a direct economic stake in protecting the ecosystems around them – and where environmental restoration becomes a driver of wider economic regeneration. 

The programme is also being brought to life through a new series of films produced in partnership with Open Planet Studios. Filmed initially in Kenya and India and narrated by Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan, the first ReGeneration film explores the relationship between nature, livelihoods and economic opportunity through the experiences of the communities at the heart of the programme.

Following early screenings in Mombasa and during London Climate Action Week, the films are now being showcased internationally, including around New York Climate Week and at events in Houston and Paris, with further screenings planned as the initiative develops. Future films will explore individual countries and themes within ReGeneration, with further filming planned in Tanzania, Mozambique, Pakistan and Madagascar.

ReGeneration forms part of a wider message: that retreating from long-term investment in communities now risks reversing progress on some of the world's most pressing development challenges. 

Matt Reed, Global Director of Partnerships and CEO of Aga Khan Foundation UK, said: “We are at a point where the international community is having to think differently about how development is funded and delivered. But stepping back from investment in climate resilience, education and economic opportunity now would carry enormous long-term costs. Whether we are talking about restoring an ecosystem or improving a child's education, the principle is the same: invest in the capacity of communities to shape their own futures. ReGeneration is an example of what that can look like in practice - bringing together environmental restoration and economic opportunity rather than asking communities to choose between the two.” 

For media enquiries please contact Ellen Agnew.

About ReGeneration 

ReGeneration is a ten-year Aga Khan Foundation initiative working with communities across six countries in the Indian Ocean region to restore natural environments while strengthening livelihoods and local economies.

The programme brings together approaches including mangrove and ecosystem restoration, regenerative agriculture, sustainable fisheries, clean energy and enterprise development. 

ReGeneration films 

A series of films is being produced with Open Planet Studios to document ReGeneration and the communities involved in the programme. 

The first films were shot in Kenya and India and are narrated by Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan. Further filming is planned in Mozambique, Pakistan and Madagascar. 

To view the films: 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfGEhmFM8tg

12 minute film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWcGDCksLG8

Attachments

ReGeneration, India

ReGeneration, Mozambique

Ellen Agnew

Aga Khan Foundation

ellen.agnew@akdn.org

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