Wetlands are the “natural filters with a variety of important ecosystem benefits and are more relevant in improving people’s livelihoods. However, as a result of increasing global economic pressures, they have drastically decreased resulting in more global environmental challenges such as climate change. This has attracted international and regional attention for wetland management through restoration which has several success and failure stories. This review aimed at establishing the dynamics for wetland restoration success and failure in Uganda through narrative literature review. This showed that institutional and policy environment, land tenure systems, traditional and indigenous knowledge, and project scope significantly affect the restoration outcomes. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive interdisciplinary collaboration for effective and efficient governance and alternative live- hoods analysis, the integration of traditional knowledge for land tenure system support, fostering gender sensitive and a multisectoral, approach and prioritizing community-centered practices to address land tenure system complexities and ensure the sustainability of wetland ecosystems for future generations in restoration initiatives