There are a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are involved in land and ecosystem restoration. However there is not enough systematic analysis of the potential and limitations of NGOs in this regard. Such an analysis should assess the ideological positions and operational plans and projects. NGOs have an important role in building innovative pilot models of restoration and compel the government to act where it is not adequately responsive to the issues of land degradation. However certain ideological positions of NGOs are not that enabling tso achieve scaled up restoration. Moreover, there may be challenges in learning appropriate lessons from the innovative work of NGOs and using these for macro-plans and actions for land-restoration.