Pierre Rabhi is one of the most eminent ecologists of our time
He was born in Algeria, the son of a blacksmith and brought up by a European couple. He received a French education, at the same time staying in touch with his North African roots.
During the Algerian war he worked in Paris but left, with his French wife, to settle in the Ardeche region.
On discovering organic agriculture he started to apply his findings on his small farm, with a heard of goats, growing crops on the arid, rocky slopes of southern Ardeche.
Around 1981 Rabhi began to set up a number of training projects in France and Africa. He was invited to Burkina Faso to organise the first programme on agro-ecology, for farmers, which he suggested could be implemented to counteract drought and the expense of buying fertilisers and pesticides.
He became co-founder of the African Centre for Agro-ecological education, is recognised as an international expert on the fight against desertification, and participated in numerous United Nations forums.
In 1996 Rabhi created the concept of’ Oasis en tous lieux’-‘ Oasis Everywhere’ which is now an autonomous movement.
In 2002 Rabhi , encouraged by many friends, threw himself into an unconventional Presidential campaign, proposing to replace logic with
“l’Homme et la Nature”. His campaign attracted an incredible following in a very short time collecting signature from many politicians and more than eighty area support committees: the Humingbirds.
In 2006 the Movement Terre et Humanisme was launched. On the one hand this pulls together the various strands of Pierre Rabhis international work but the movement principal aim is to become a platform for interaction and inspiration for those seeking a different kind of society which places humans and nature at the centre ….
More to follow…
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!