120. The Hidden Roots of Restoration
Tony Rinaudo on The Forest Underground, mindsets & new book
Tony Rinaudo instigated what’s been called “probably the largest positive environmental transformation in the Sahel and perhaps in all of Africa." They call him The Forest Maker, but Tony will tell you the transformation was really in the people, starting with himself. I had this conversation with Tony back in 2020, and have never forgotten it. It’s one of those stories you wish everyone knew. So when Tony reached out to me recently to let me know he’d just finished his autobiography, and given there are so many more of you listening to this podcast today than there were two years ago, it seemed fitting to re-release this excerpt of our conversation.
Tony Rinaudo in the field (supplied).
“In that instant everything changed, because there was a vast underground forest across the whole country, and in fact across many many developing countries. They don’t have bulldozers, they don’t have mechanised farming. The trees are still there. And the battle lines shifted. I was no longer fighting the Sahara, I didn’t need a big budget, I didn’t need a miracle tree species to resist drought. it was about mindset.”
The new book is called The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis. It follows Tony’s journey from Australia to Niger, and tells the miraculous story of how his discovery revolutionised reforestation in Africa, restoring over 18 million hectares of degraded land across 27 countries, without planting trees - and all led by the people who live there. But really, that’s not the half of this story. As a metaphor, it’s a revelation of the sheer scale of possibility if we focus on tending and harvesting what’s already within us, as people and planet.
This conversation culminates in some of the most extraordinary, moving and instructive stories I’ve ever heard.
“I’m often called The Forest Maker, or Tree Whisperer. Don’t believe a word of it. 95% of my time is spent re-greening mindscapes. If we win that battle, the rest is relatively easy.” – Tony Rinaudo, at his virtual book launch on 22 April 2022.
“For years I have longed to see this biography written. And it lives up to my every hope.” - Tim Costello, CEO World Vision Australia 2004–2016.
This conversation was recorded online with Tony at home in Melbourne, in June 2020.
Click on the photos below for full view, and hover over them for descriptions where they’ve been added (all pics supplied). See the web page for episode 64 for more.
Get more:
If you’re in Australia or NZ, you can buy ‘The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis’ on the publisher’s website.
Or you can get it on the Book depository, or wherever you get your books.
If you’re in or near Melbourne on 31 May 2022, you can register for the book launch at St Paul’s Cathedral (featuring Tony, Tim Costello and others).
If you’d like to hear more of Tony’s background, go back to episode 64 and listen to the first 15 minutes or so. That’s in The Forest Maker: And the largest positive environmental transformation in Africa, with Tony Rinaudo AM.
Theme music:
The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.