Tony Rinaudo, widely known as the \u2018forest maker\u2019, is an Australian agronomist who has lived and worked in Africa for several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the great famine of 1984, at the age of only 26, Rinaudo was placed in charge of delivering emergency food aid to tens of thousands of families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He discovered and put into practice a solution to the extreme deforestation and desertification of the Sahel region where he lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using a simple set of management practices, farmers there have been able to restore tree cover, which has helped to improve the livelihoods and food security of millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rinaudo pioneered a technique that involves growing up trees from existing root systems, which are often still intact and which he refers to as the \u201cunderground forest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By identifying the right plants and pruning and protecting them, farmers can help them grow into trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Changing attitudes has been key to Rinaudo\u2019s successful work. He realised that if people had reduced the forest to a barren landscape, it would require people to restore it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Known as farmer-managed natural regeneration, this approach has now restored five million hectares with more than 200 million trees in Niger alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This technique has the potential to restore vast areas of degraded drylands in an area the size of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Rinaudo has created is much more than an agricultural technique, he has inspired a farmer-led movement that is regreening land in the Sahel region and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rinaudo was recently appointed a Member of the Order of Australia and is sharing his story from growing up in Myrtleford, to moving to Africa in his early 20s and pioneering a movement that is literally changing the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will speak at the Kyneton Baptist Church at 10am on Sunday February 26. All welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tony Rinaudo, widely known as the \u2018forest maker\u2019, is an Australian agronomist who has lived and worked in Africa for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,4931,4930],"ppma_author":[5225],"class_list":["post-13887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-kyneton","tag-the-forest-maker","tag-tony-rinaudo"],"yoast_head":"\n