From the bustling conference halls of the World Conservation Congress to the narrow roads of Kruger National Park, this thesis examines the role of youth in conservation governance. This multi-level study investigates how youth are defined and how youth are mobilised in conservation governance. It has two research objectives, firstly, to interrogate the perspectives of young people on conservation based on their mobilisation or self-mobilisation, and secondly, to examine how youth classifications influence their engagement with conservation. The analytical lens of ‘youth studies’ is utilised to investigate conservation, governance, and engagement from the youth perspective. Previous research in this field argues that the youth standpoint can help investigate what it means to be young in relation to various global and local phenomena. This research presents the experiences of youth from the Global South, with a particular focus on African youth. It asserts that youth is a discursive social construct with varying definitions depending on the defining organisation, state, policy, or actor. It argues that youth engagement is an approach that puts into practice the social construction of youth in conservation governance and practice from the global to local level. Qualitative methods were used to analyse data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, an event ethnography and document analysis. The research findings demonstrate that the way in which young people are categorised in global narratives and frameworks affect their ability to participate in conservation efforts. The study suggests that governance interventions related to youth are influenced by how environmental organisations initially classify young people. Furthermore, the subjective experiences of youth highlight the intersections of gender, age, and culture, which present multiple challenges as well as opportunities for collaboration through peer-to-peer training, mentoring, and capacity building. Overall, opportunities for youth to navigate conservation governance are hindered by their unequal and stratified engagement at global, regional, and local levels. The perspectives of young people suggest that youth engagement should focus on fostering trust, yielding authority and respect in safe spaces in governance. This study goes on to suggest an adapted youth engagement model that emphasises the importance of moving beyond homogenised classifications of youth and embracing their diversity.