In his documentary film “The Forest Maker” (2021), Volker Schlöndorff portrays the agronomist Tony Rinaudo. The Australian has developed a reforestation technique in Africa. The FMNR method (Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration) is particularly cost-effective. In contrast to complex and expensive reforestation, the existing root system in the soil is reactivated – in co-operation with local farmers – by protecting and caring for the saplings. Through targeted pruning and selection of native tree saplings, ideally around 30 to 150 trees per hectare will develop on agricultural land within a few years, providing shade and improving the water balance and significantly increasing the crop yield of the fields. In the zones designated as forest areas, resistant mixed forests develop again from the underground roots. In Africa alone, the potential for such greening amounts to several hundred million hectares, and significantly more on other continents. The positive effects on CO2 sequestration, climate and global nutrition are correspondingly far-reaching.
World Vision helps interested supporters to develop customised aid projects in which FMNR plays an important role. If you have any questions about a possible commitment on this topic, please feel free to contact our association member Karl-Friedrich Rittershofer (0171 9515904) or Susanne Ransweiler (06172 763111) from World Vision Germany.