The Australian Tony Rinaudo is revolutionizing reforestation in Africa. He relies on existing tree stumps and roots, underground trees – and he is certain: the trend reversal in global nature conservation has yet to be achieved
Mr. Rinaudo, you are called the “forest maker”. Are you proud of it?
Yes, I think that’s a nice title. It was invented by the journalist Johannes Dieterich, with whom I had the pleasure of traveling through Somalia, Ethiopia and Niger. I also have other “titles” like “Waldflüsterer”, which is funny. But “Waldmacher” is easy and yet serious.
How did you discover your method?
Actually, it’s not a new invention. Already in the old forestry in Germany, “sitting on the stick” was a common tree care practice. This has been done here and on other continents for centuries. I came across it during a tree planting drive in the Republic of Niger. I was ready to give up and go home after two and a half years of growing frustration. I failed. “Cutting the woods” with this method did not work properly and I did not manage to get the support of the population for it. At one of my lowest points, I drove a trailer load of seedlings into the villages. The hopelessness of it all weighed heavily on me. I stopped to reduce the air pressure in the tires so the vehicle could more easily drive over loose sand. While I stopped, I let my gaze wander over the barren landscape. North, South, East, West: As far as I could see there were windswept plains that were almost completely treeless. I realized. The methods I used would not do anything here, even if I had a multi-million dollar budget, many years of work, and hundreds of employees. It was hopeless.
Still, you stayed .
I felt like I was destined for Niger. Faith has always been a big part of my decisions, and at this low point I asked God again for help. In short, I asked God to forgive us for destroying the gift of His beautiful creation. Much of the suffering and hunger people experience is directly related to environmental degradation. I asked God to open my eyes and show me what to do. That day I noticed one of the usual little bushes that grew in the field. I had seen these bushes many times before but never registered their importance. I went to take a closer look at it. When I saw the leaves, I immediately recognized that it was not a bush, but a tree that had been felled and sprouted again from the stump. At that moment everything changed. I kind of knew this was the solution I was looking for – and it was at my feet the whole time. There were millions of similar bushes that indicated that a vast underground forest existed just below the surface of this seemingly barren landscape.
But it didn’t turn into a forest …
Correct. The sprouting trunks grew up to a meter in height every year, but then the farmers cut the shoots. They burned the trunks and branches to use the ashes to fertilize the ground, or they took them home as firewood. As long as this regular felling and burning continued, the “bushes” never grew into real trees and the forest remained hidden underground. In most species, when a tree is felled, a large portion of the root mass remains alive and the tree has the ability to grow back quickly from the stump.
How did you stop people from burning the trees?
With the discovery of this underground forest everything changed. The afforestation was no longer about enough budget, staff or time. It was no longer about the fight against the Sahara desert, against goats or drought. The task now was to convince people that it would be in their best interests to turn at least some of these bushes back into trees. I realized that if it were people who had reduced the forest to a barren landscape, it would take people to restore it.
Why are the trees so important?
To put it as simply as possible: trees are life. Their greatest value is probably their beneficial effects on health, climate, soil, precipitation and water. Trees beautify the land, provide shade for people and livestock, protect the crops from wind and storms and keep the water in the ground at a level at which it can be used by people. The neglect of forestry in the past has resulted in the deserts that exist today, because when the tree cover disappears from the earth, the water level drops. Trees are a foundation of civilization.
Our behavior towards them today can determine the weal or woe of tomorrow. Their presence or absence may tell posterity about health or disease, food or hunger, clean or filthy water, good or bad harvests, fertile rain or floods, helpful birds or harmful insects, prosperity or poverty, pure air or tainted air, fertile or decide desert country. We have a choice. Otherwise, the ancient ghosts will appear secretly, one by one – flood, drought, fire, famine.
Why do you think no one has noticed before you that under much degraded soil lie ancient forests that can be revived?
It was noticed earlier, and even today, when I travel to remote parts of East Timor, Myanmar or Malawi, I see that simple, often uneducated farmers work with this method.
To person
Tony Rinaudo, 64, is greening withered areas in Africa – and now also worldwide. Born in Australia, he worked as a farmer and missionary in the Republic of Niger from 1981 to 1999, where he was also responsible for rural development and major aid programs. There he also discovered the regenerative method of the reforestation method FMNR (Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration). Together he and the local farmers have already been able to forest more than six million hectares of land.
The aid organization“World Vision”, which Rinaudo joined in 1999, supports him in ensuring that his method can also be used outside of Africa. As a “Senior Climate Action Advisor” he oversees international forest and agroforestry initiatives.
For his workRinaudo has received several awards, including the Alternative Nobel Prize (The Right Livelihood Award), the “World Future Council Agroecology Award” and a high medal from the Government of Niger.
Rinaudo’s methodalso plays an important role in the “UN Decade for the Restoration of Ecosystems”, which officially begins this Saturday. Its aim is to revive degraded or already destroyed ecosystems, as a contribution to the goals of the three UN conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification as well as to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Important ecosystem servicessuch as storing carbon and regulating the water balance should be preserved and the resistance of the people living there to climate change strengthened. Means for this include ensuring natural regeneration, afforestation and the promotion of adapted agroforestry systems. jw
But it was not discovered in Niger, of all places in a region where intensive investments were made in the “fight against the desert”. Why?
There is a simple rule: people don’t believe what they see, they see what they believe. And so it was with me too. I saw a treeless landscape there. My life and learning experiences had convinced me that the only way to reforest deforested areas is to plant trees. And while that method failed, I tried again and again, only harder. But it was still a failure. I did not see what was already all around me. I was obsessed with how to produce, plant, and protect enough trees to push back the desert. And I would say that to a very large extent it was the same with everyone else. Many believe that the solution depends entirely on us – our intelligence, our finances, our technology, and our power. This way of thinking overlooks the fact that nature is perfectly capable of healing itself if you give it a chance. In the case of land restoration, stopping doing certain things, like burning down, overgrazing, completely plowing all farmland, regularly removing all woody biomass, is much more important than doing something like planting trees.
Their method is much cheaper and often more successful than classic reforestation with seedlings from tree nurseries and appropriate care. Can it prevail?
The momentum is growing every day. Our first international conference on our “Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration” (FMNR) took place in 2012 in Nairobi. Donors, governments, NGOs and farmers’ associations had never heard of FMNR before. It is now accepted in more and more countries, such as Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, East Timor and India. The aid organization World Vision has already introduced the approach in 26 countries and repeatedly offers training for all interested parties – NGOs, governments, communities or religious communities. But other organizations also actively promote the method, for example “The Global Evergreening Alliance” and the “World Agroforestry Center”. In some regions the process takes longer, but the seeds have been or are being sown and it is only a matter of time.
They hope that your method will be used in around 100 countries around the world by 2030. Are there “sleeping” forests everywhere?
No, not everywhere, but in a surprising number of places. My rule of thumb is: if a forest existed in the past, even in the distant past, it is possible to restore it using our method or a combination of it and other methods. You can do this wherever there are roots and stumps with the ability to sprout again or tree seeds in the ground. The regions in which this is possible are very diverse – it goes from hyperarid to tropical, from coastal to alpine areas. In practice, FMNR has so far been most successful in arid and semi-arid areas. Farmers quickly see great advantages here – with little effort and money. Plus, they have few other options. Due to the scarcity of water, they cannot always plant high-quality wood or fruit trees there.
How can your method also be used under other conditions – without roots under the surface?
Of course, I don’t limit myself entirely to FMNR. In cases where there really are no roots or seeds in the ground, you can sow seeds directly into the land and then secure the growth of the trees according to our guidelines. But if it is appropriate for the situation, I can also plant trees. By strategically placing trees in the landscape, they in turn can attract birds and animals, which then naturally produce seeds. The key, however, lies in changing people’s behavior. Unless you address the factors that caused forest loss in the first place and the factors that prevent natural tree regrowth, you will be unsuccessful. But if a community agrees to prevent fires, manage grazing by livestock differently, and regulate when and how much woody biomass can be harvested, it will work.
Currently, more than 25 million hectares of forest are lost worldwide each year, mainly to deforestation and slash and burn. Do you see any chance of stopping this?
It’s very depressing – and completely unnecessary. Are we humans as a species doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past? I myself would not have survived my crisis in Niger if I were not an optimist. The situation looked impossible. Everything I tried failed. People made fun of me and called me the crazy white farmer. But I persevered and by the grace of God finally had a breakthrough that changed everything. So I have to answer: yes, of course we have every chance to stop this madness. If under the impossible conditions in Niger – the poorest country in the world, harsh conditions on the edge of the Sahara, extreme poverty, stubborn mentality, little support from the government and minimal support from NGOs – deforestation could be reversed, how does it look elsewhere ? Nothing is impossible.
That sounds extremely optimistic.
As a boy, I was inspired by the work of the British forest scientist Richard St. Barbe Baker. He was an international fighter for forests and for sustainable agriculture. With my own autobiography, which is out now, I hope to inspire the next generation. The director Volker Schlöndorff is creating a large documentary for an international audience on FMNR, which is due to be released this year. The possibility of reaching millions of people in this way is simply enormous. We are in the UN Decade for the Restoration of Ecosystems, the Davos World Economic Forum initiated the One Trillion Tree Program, and there is an international announcement to restore around 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 – and many other approaches. Yes, we have a great chance to stop this madness. We just have to do it.
Your summary, please: Is a global trend reversal in nature conservation still possible?
Yes of course. Victor Hugo said: “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” The time for a turning point has come, and I see so much determination in the younger generation, in Greta Thunberg and her followers. There is a beautiful Hausa proverb: “yarra, manyan gobe.” Today’s children are tomorrow’s mighty ones. Today’s high-voiced youth will lead businesses, run governments, and make buying decisions – it’s not too late to change things. But we older people are not allowed to sit back either.
Interview: Joachim Wille
