An Underground Forest: a solution to restoring degraded land at our feet | Tony Rinaudo | TEDxSydney

Nov 1, 2023

NOTE FROM TED: Farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) for climate change remains an ongoing field of study. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: https://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf

Tony had a Eureka moment on a dirt road in Niger, West Africa when he realized that a useless looking bush was, in fact, a tree. It transformed his approach to restoring degraded forests. Tony and a team of local staff and farmers developed Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), to prune and protect trees growing from stumps and roots. It proved to be fast and cheap – by some estimates, up to 36 times cheaper than planting trees. FMNR has since been introduced to 29 countries. These efforts, along with traditional and spontaneous movements have so far restored resulted more than 18 million hectares of land. Tony’s vision? To use this simple yet powerful solution to combat climate change and poverty by restoring 1 billion hectares of degraded land, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide by up to 25%, and creating a more liveable planet for us all. Tony is a Natural Resources Management Specialist and agronomist who has worked for World Vision for a number of years. Tony’s quite the green thumb, with a list of achievements in developing and promoting agricultural-forestry-pastoral systems. This has resulted in him being nominated for, and winning several international awards. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx