Rob van Hattum & Gijs Meyer Swantee – The Netherlands – 2014

Imagine: a Dutch ecologist makes it his mission to rehabilitate ecosystems all over the world. The ecological restoration isn’t only able to return deserts into green landscapes, but also creates jobs, economical growth and hope for the people living in the region. That is exactly what Willem Ferwerda aims to do with his organisation Commonland.

In the documentary ‘Regreening the Planet’ we see how that is possible with one of the world pioneers when it comes to regreening deserts: the Egyptian Dr. Ibrahim Aboleish. In 1977 he founded Sekem that today is one of the biggest suppliers of ecological products in Egypt and beyond. Not only did his company change desert land into a thriving business, Sekem became a living community with schools, a university, and its own medical and cultural services. It’s hard to find a better proof of the fact that regreening and social innovation go hand in hand.

Regreening is something everyone can do. That shows the extraordinary story of the Indian Jadav "Molai" Payeng who started planting trees when he was 17. Today ‘his’ Molai forest in the province Assam has a surface of more than 300 acres and is a home to elephants, Bengal tigers, deer, rhinos and countless birds.

‘Regreening the Planet’ is a documentary made by Rob van Hattum & Gijs Meyer Swantee for the Dutch weekly Future Affairs Program ‘Backlight’ (Tegenlicht) that focuses on our globalized world in which societies, economies and cultures seek a new equilibrium.

Duration: 50 minutes

Language: English, Arabic, Hindi, Spanish (English subtitles)