World Vision Timor-Leste (WVTL) has organized the inaugural Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) conference in Timor-Leste. 
World Vision Australia natural resources advisor and FMNR founder Tony Rinaudo said FMNR was a global program which aimed to restore the “underground forest” by regenerating vegetation from tree stumps and roots.
“With this will begin to enrich the land in Timor-Leste and the entirety of South East-Asia.
It will give a better, fertile land, increase agricultural productivity and reduce landslides,” Rinaudo said at the FMNR conference, held at the Delta Nova Large Hall, Dili.
He said communities in Timor-Leste often clear forests by slashing or burning in order to allow livestock to graze on the grass.
However, this deforestation led to soil erosion and degradation which in turn contributed to problems of malnutrition among Timorese people, he said.
Rinaudo said the FMNR technique had been in use in Aileu district for two years.
“They haven’t burned the land and it is now green, giving (the farmers) hope,” he said.
Forestry national director Manuel Mendes gave his support to the FMNR program as it benefited farmers and gave them advice on how to protect their plants and enrich their land.
World Vision Timor-Leste country director Samaresh Nayak said FMNR program will be expanded from its current base in Fahiria, in Aileu district, to include Bobonaro district.
