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You are here: Home / General Article / Film “The Forest Maker” – about the man who makes trees grow: Toni Rinaudo

11. April 2022 | Monika Griefahn

Film “The Forest Maker” – about the man who makes trees grow: Toni Rinaudo

Even in this time of war and destruction, there is a need for signs of hope and future. That’s why today I’m reporting on “The Forest Maker” Toni Rinaudo and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff.

“I firmly believe that with the right production methods, Africa could easily feed the world.” A bold statement? Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo doesn’t think so. He backs up his statement in the film. To an incredulous “Yes?!” he confidently replies, “Yes, of course!”

Tony Rinaudo received the Right Livelihood Award in 2018 for his work in Africa. There, he had discovered viable roots in the desert soil and for decades has been reforesting deforested and extremely dry regions by activating and nurturing those roots. Without planting a single tree.

Inspired by the “Alternative Nobel Prize” to the Australian, German director Volker Schlöndorff made a documentary about him, which he has now shown at the Zeise cinemas in the German northern city of Hamburg on its premiere tour of 44 cinemas. The Oscar-winning Schlöndorff (1979’s “The Tin Drum,” 1991’s “Homo Faber”), whom I know from my time as a cultural politician in the German Bundestag, was there himself.

PEOPLE MAKE EARTH FERTILE AGAIN

Tony Rinaudo is joyfully welcomed by the rural population in Niger, where he mainly works. The secret of his success is probably that he doesn’t come as a white man and put his solution in front of the inhabitants of the barren regions, but that he takes the people with him on the path to reforestation. It is his opinion that if it was people who turned entire areas of land into a supposed desert through deforestation, then people are needed to make them fertile again. So he shows the rural population how they have to prune the roots and shoots to make the trees grow again.

Tony Rinaudo demonstrates pruning.

Tony Rinaudo demonstrates pruning.

Now, 50,000 square kilometers of land in Niger alone have been re-vegetated with more than 200 million trees. Rinaudo’s work has started a movement to make the Sahel region fertile again. This is because the new trees provide shade, protect the soil from erosion, produce humus and make farming possible again.

WOMEN HAVE AN IMPORTANT ROLE

At the Right Livelihood Foundation in 2018, when we selected the laureates, we were equally impressed by the simplicity with which living in harmony with nature is once again possible, and by the tireless and positive commitment of Rinaudo, who has become a friend of the rural population. Volker Schlöndorff portrays both, and especially the important role of women, very atmospherically in his documentary.

Like Tony Rinaudo in his decades of work, Schlöndorff somehow fell into the lives of the people in Africa during three years of filming. Thus, the documentary about Rinaudo also becomes a documentary about joie de vivre, creative energy and international understanding. “I learned optimism,” says the director in an NDR interview on the occasion of the film’s premiere at Hamburg’s Zeise cinemas. The film is now showing in German cinemas.

Cinema trailer on Youtube
Portrait of Tony Rinaudo on the website of the Right Livelihood Foundation

Filed Under: General Article, Right Livelihood Award

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Appointments

April 26, 2022: Participation in the event “Rethinking Growth – Visions for Buchholz” as part of the Climate Advisory Board Buchholz in der Nordheide. More information (in German).

May 2, 2022: Buchholz Climate Advisary Council with presentation of the Climate Action Plan.

May, 5-6, 2022: Committee meeting and “Round Table” of the Foundation Lebendige Stadt.

May 10, 2022: Right Livlihood laureate and Russian environmental activist Vladimir Slivyak speaks to the “Alternative Nobel Prize” parliamentary group of the German Bundestag. Slivyak received the award for his commitment against nuclear power and fossil energies. More about him here.

May 12, 2022: Participation in the Congress Cradle to Cradle  –Shaping municipalities of the future.

June 22, 2022: The Central Real Estate Committee (ZIA) organizes the Real Estate Industry Day in Berlin; participation in the panel “Climate Protection” with the topic Cradle to Cradle. More information (some in English).

September 22, 2022: Lecture on “The Cradle to Cradle principle – necessary for climate protection” at the Lions Club Hamburg-Hoheneichen.

October 20, 2022: Introductory statement at “eKKon 2022” – the Austrian congress on eFuels in Vienna. It is about the growing importance of eFuels in the climate debate.


Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021

Logo C2C-Congress

Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


eFuels

Synthetic fuels are one of the decisive factors for the energy transition away from fossile fuels. That is why I am committed to the further development and practical use of eFuels and became a member of the Sounding Board of the eFuel Alliance in May 2021.
English website of the eFuel Alliance


Climate committee

Constituent session: Photo: City of Buchholz / Helms

In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


Right Livelihood Laureate 2021

Right Livelihood Award

They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


Federal Order of Merit

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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