The Forest Underground

In 1981, Australian agronomists Tony and Liz Rinaudo arrived on the edge of the Sahara with a bold mission: to plant trees and combat desertification. Faced with a hostile landscape where few trees survived and those that did were quickly cut down, their efforts seemed destined for failure.
Everything changed when Tony stumbled upon a deceptively simple method to restore degraded land without planting a single tree.
This discovery gave birth to Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), a revolutionary sustainable land management system that has transformed reforestation practices across Africa and beyond. In Niger alone, local farmers have embraced FMNR, rehabilitating over six million hectares of devastated land and doubling their crop yields and incomes.
Tony Rinaudo is a Right Livelihood Award Laureate and Principal Climate Action Advisor with World Vision. In The Forest Underground, he shares his story and that of FMNR – a story of innovation, resilience and hope.