The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. GEN serves as umbrella organization for ecovillages, transition town initiatives, intentional communities, and ecologically-minded individuals worldwide.

Today we are active in every GEN region, with each region operating with its own focus and specific goals. We are united by our youthful spirits, our love of the ecovillage movement and the longing to be a part of creating the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. In the regions of Oceania and Asia, Africa, North America and Europe we have groups gathered under the NextGEN name. In CASA (Latin America) CASA Jóvenes is in the process of emerging. We dialogue between regions through NextGEN International which is a thematic region of the Global Ecovillage Network.

Our vision is to restore a wild forest, which is there for its own sake, as a home for wildlife and to fulfil the ecological functions necessary for the wellbeing of the land itself. We are not aiming to regenerate a forest which will be utilised sustainably as an extractive resource for people, although we recognise the need for this in Scotland. We endorse the efforts of other organisations in seeking to establish a new, ecologically-sustainable system of forestry, but we strongly believe that this utilitarian approach must be complemented by the restoration of large areas of wild forest. Trees for Life is unique in being the only organisation working specifically towards this end. Scotland is a prime candidate for ecological restoration work, as it is one of the countries which has suffered most from environmental degradation in the past. The Highlands in particular have been described as a 'wet desert