FMNR Conference

'Renew the land' conference highlights reforestation and land renewal efforts

SEE below: conference presentations and resolutions plus links to FMNR video and conference photos

The conference on Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) on 7 and 8 April 2014 was a landmark event that will start a land regeneration movement in Timor-Leste and across South East Asia. says Tony Rinaudo, an Australian agricultural expert and pioneer of FMNR (see conference media release).

The event in Dili attracted over 220 agriculturalists, farmers, foresters, researchers, government officials, and university staff and students from Timor-Leste and international agencies.

Conference reports and proceedings

Conference participants came up with a series of resolutions to promote FMNR. Download them here: the first national FMNR conference - Resolutions.

Conference presentations

Here you can download the conference presentations.

Myles Harrison
Director, World Vision Pacific Timor-Leste (pdf, 7pp, 0.3MB)

Sr Manuel Mendez
Director of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (pdf, 25pp, 2.9MB)

Tony Rinaudo
Natural Resources Adviser, World Vision Australia and Pioneer of FMNR (pdf, 26 pp, 2.7MB):

James Roshetko
Senior Team Leader and Agroforestry Systems Scientist, World Agroforestry Center, South East Asia Regional Office (pdf, 22pp, 7.3MB)

Charith Senanayake
Director, Rainforest Rescue International (pdf, 26 pp, 1.5 MB)

Luis Mendes Ribeiro
Head of Planning Department, Forestry Directorate (pdf, 8pp, 1.6MB)

Rob Francis
Project Manager, FMNR, World Vision Australia (pdf, 10pp, 0.4MB)

Segenet Tessema
Agriculture and Climate Change Technical Specialist, World Vision Timor-Leste (pdf, 35pp, 6MB)

Ego Lemos
Permatil, Timor-Leste (pdf, 8pp, 3.2MB)

Here's a Photo Gallery featuring the presenters, along with other participants and the field trip.

About FMNR

This documentary video outlines the key ideas of FMNR and the impact it is having in Timor-Leste.

FMNR aims to beat hunger and help combat the effects of climate change by regenerating trees and shrubs from the ‘underground forest’ of living tree stumps that remain in degraded forest areas.

FMNR’s secret, and why it is so cheap and so quickly can have a widespread impact, is that tree planting or tree nurseries are not needed. Seemingly bare hillsides may in fact contain seeds, living tree stumps and roots which can sprout new stems and regenerate trees, if given a chance. By carefully pruning and caring for the shoots sprouting from the stumps, FMNR breathes life back into the original land cover.

FMNR in Timor-Leste and Worldwide

WVTL runs a project in the district of Aileu that features FMNR - see 'Timor-Leste recovers from the ashes of "slash and burn"'. A field trip to the project was part of the Dili conference.

Worldwide, WV Australia has been the driving force behind projects in Ethiopia, Niger, Ghana and Senegal, as well as the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania - see the FMNR Hub site for more.

More information

For more information please contact us at fmnrconference@wvi.org.

Thanks to Australian Aid for their generous funding and support of the conference.