Hội An draws millions of visitors a year to its ancient lanes, rice fields, river and ocean views.
But behind the destination’s celebrated tourist attractions, the communities, farmland and waterways that sustain Hội An’s heritage are under growing pressure — from climate change, rapid urbanisation and changing ways of living.
Across Hội An and its connected riverine villages in Gò Nổi, Green Youth Collective creates multi-stakeholder partnerships and builds with local communities to regenerate these living systems through practical models in zero waste & local – circular economy, floodplain agro-ecosystem restoration, village-based learning and regenerative tourism.
Our work is to restore the living capacity of local communities and the ecosystems in the context of change.
Watch the feature video
RESTORATION WITH NATURE AND PEOPLE: THE GREEN YOUTH COLLECTIVE STORY
A reflection on more than a decade of learning and contributing to the regeneration of the place we call home – Hoi An, Vietnam.
the story
1. The ecological and social systems that sustain Hoi An’s heritage destination are under pressure.
2. Isolated, random green activities cannot repair these systems sustainably
3. Green Youth Collective’s working models build the missing relationships, capabilities and operating systems that allow regenerative ideas to work in practice.
4. Five connected models reconnect Material flows, Land and water, Farming, Learning, Livelihoods and Traveling Experiences
5. These models are tangible in real physical places that are located at heart of grassroots communities.
6. Their value is assessed through changes in systems, institutions, sectors, roles, stewardship and local agency.
7. Their lessons become insights that can inform practice beyond a single site.
8. Partners, learners and visitors can enter the system through different forms of collaboration and participation.
why regeneration matters for hoi an – and other tourism destinations
A heritage destination is more than the place visitors see.
Hội An’s future depends on the rivers, floodplains, farms, villages, biodiversity, local knowledge and livelihoods that sustain life beyond the Ancient Town. These systems are under growing pressure from climate change, rapid urbanisation, waste and plastic pollution, biodiversity loss and the decline of traditional ways of livings.
Protecting individual sites or organising occasional green activities cannot address pressures that move across an entire landscape. The deeper question is whether the destination can restore its capacity to adapt, care for its resources and renew the conditions on which both community life and tourism depend.
what we do: working models
Tourism destinations do not lack of sustainability commitments. The real challenge lies in the lack of practical systems that turn those commitments into everyday operations and change that lasts.
Explore the five interconnected Working Models we are building and operating across Hoi An and Go Noi. Circular systems recover useful resources for farm ecosystem and communities. Agroecology returns biological resources to cultivation land. Restoration reconnects farm-level practice with the wider floodplain. Community schools build the capability to operate and improve the work. Regenerative tourism brings learning, demand, revenue and long-term relationships back into the system.
Circular Tourism & Zero Waste
Helping tourism destinations and hospitality businesses prevent waste, recover resources locally and build operating pathways for Reuse-Refill, Organics and responsible material recovery.
Floodplain Agro-ecosystem Restoration
Restoring ecological processes, riparian vegetation, climate-resilient plant diversity and community stewardship that enable the working floodplain to adapt and to regenerate.
Closed-loop farming & Agroecology
Returning nutrients to soil-plant-animal system on farms, reconnecting farming, food systems, biodiversity and local livelihoods.
Community Schools for Regeneration
Turning real implementation sites, local knowledge and operating systems into living curricula and transition skills for local communities and visitors.
Regenerative Tourism
Designing tourism operations and experiences so they contribute to the well-being, capability and resilience of the places and of communities on which they depend.
who we are
A Vietnamese ecosystem of organisations and places, each with a distinct role, started and connected by Green Youth Collective.
Together, we turn regenerative mindset & ideas into systems that local communities can operate and adapt over time—demonstrating how local actions can create meaningful global impacts.
places Where we work: Regeneration in practice
Regeneration lasts when communities can understand change, operate practical solutions and adapt them over time.
Our places are working models rooted in the communities around Hội An. Each responds to a real local challenge while building the knowledge, skills, relationships and systems needed to care for that place.
Together, the places where we operate community-led solutions form a distributed Community Schools for Regeneration—where local practitioners, youth and women, farmers and workers, tourism businesses, authorities and visitors learn from real systems in action.
Hoi An Medicinal Garden – Triem Tay village
Close to Hội An’s center. A community garden connecting useful plants, local knowledge and skills of using plants for everyday well-being, and biodiversity.
Hoi An Eco-Hub: Community Zero Waste Center – Cam Kim
Close to Hoi An’s center. An unique public-private-community project on zero waste in Vietnam. A community operating infrastructure connecting source separation, material recovery, organics in closed-loop, reuse-refill, zero waste education and lifestyle, and tourism-sector engagement.
REwild Land restoration farm – Cam Phu village, Go Noi
15 km from central Hội An, within the farms and homes of a traditional village.
Two connected working areas bring together floodplain agro-ecosystem restoration, closed-loop farming, agroecology and community stewardship. Along the river, the community farm focuses on land restoration and the development of a vegetated buffer zone. A few steps in-land, we are developing productive circular farming and a village-based hospitality model.
Together, they explore how caring for land can support learning, local food, livelihoods and meaningful travel.
impact: what change looks like
Across our working models and places, we look at what has been put into practice, what is beginning to work differently, and what still requires time to understand.
Our Impact page brings together the evidence behind these changes—from resource flows and organisational practice to local roles, livelihoods and ecological recovery—while being clear about what we can demonstrate and what we are still learning.
insights: thinking from the ground-up work
Practice changes the questions we ask. Behind hospitality services, compost piles, farms, gardens, visitor journeys and restoration sites are deeper questions about how change really happens.
These reflections come from years of building and adapting systems in practice—for communities, partners, researchers and institutions interested not only in what we do, but why the work is designed this way.
call for collaboration
We work with governments and development partners, universities, and schools, tour operators and hospitality businesses, researchers, volunteers and travellers who want to engage with real practice of place-based regeneration.
IN THE MEDIA
Selected coverage, interviews and conversations about us and what we do.
“Transformation of the world lies hidden within the undeveloped capacity of every person..
We make a better world by teaching ordinary people practices for shifting their thinking processes and enabling themselves to show up as parents, employees, citizens and neighbours in completely new ways.”
—Carol Sanford, “The Regenerative life”