The Forest Maker

The Right Livelihood Award recognizes people and organizations that are changing the world for the better. Three cash prizes of 96,000 euros each, funded through donations, are granted annually by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. 

One of the 2018 winners is Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, known as “the forest maker”, who will be giving a lecture at UZH in November. He developed a simple and quick method of reforestation which enables trees to grow even in barren landscapes without requiring much financial outlay. The basic idea consists of growing trees from underground root systems which are often still intact. If farmers prune and protect the existing plants in the right way, using simple methods instead of removing them, new forests start to grow. 

Rinaudo’s natural regeneration method has restored 50,000 km2 of land with over 200 million trees in Niger alone. The method has the potential to restore degraded drylands worldwide with a combined area the size of India. 

Klaus Jonas, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, has congratulated the prize winner for his outstanding research and his contribution to sustainable reforestation and is looking forward to Rinaudo’s visit to the University of Zurich to give the Right Livelihood Lecture on 28 November 2018.