Following the BBC's Michael Burke’s ‘biblical’ report of the Ethiopian famine (1984) which led to the first Band Aid Concert; Bob Geldof et al... John initiated the creation of a major exhibition called 'Green Belt Around the Sahara' working with colleagues Tony Hannaford/graphic designer and Caroline Smith/researcher.
It featured many of the NGO's projects showing their work with local communities to counter the environmental impact of the ever expanding desert; especially those poorer countries along the southern area known as the Sahel.
The exhibition first opened at the London Ecology Centre in Covent Garden and then to various venues around the UK and eventually going abroad to the World's Forestry Centre in Portland, USA.
The exhibition was supported by the International Tree Foundation: Patron Prince Charles. Plus there was a great deal of generous support from photographers/printers with the use of their photos/facilities and donated materials.
The notion of the 'Green Belt' was inspired by Richard Barbe Baker; a man ahead of his times working in North Africa in the 1950s.
