Tony Rinaudo is an Australian agronomist, who is widely known as the forest maker. Having lived and worked in African countries for several decades, he has discovered and put in practice a solution to the extreme deforestation and desertification of the Sahel region. With a simple set of management practices, farmers can regenerate and protect existing local vegetation, which has helped to improve the livelihoods of millions.
Rinaudo has pioneered a technique that involves growing up trees from existing root systems, which are often still intact and which Rinaudo refers to as an underground forest. By choosing the right plants and pruning and protecting them in a certain way, farmers can help them grow into trees. Changing attitudes has been key to Rinaudos successful work. He realised that if people had reduced the forest to a barren landscape, it would require people to restore it.
