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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/deserts/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:31:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Deserts</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/deserts/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Egypt’s deserts show why ecological knowledge matters in conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/egypts-deserts-show-why-ecological-knowledge-matters-in-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/egypts-deserts-show-why-ecological-knowledge-matters-in-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2026 15:13:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marwan Mahmoud Kamal Hamdoun]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19142501/Red_Sea_coastal_landscape-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326676</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, Global, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Culture, Deserts, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Education, Environment, Tourism, Traditional Knowledge, and Travel]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Egypt&#8217;s deserts are often introduced to the world as empty: Wide horizons, silence, heat, sand and stone. In tourism brochures they become dramatic scenery. In archaeological writing they can appear as corridors around monuments. In some conservation documents they are fragile spaces that need technical management from outside. But these descriptions miss something essential. Deserts [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Egypt&#8217;s deserts are often introduced to the world as empty: Wide horizons, silence, heat, sand and stone. In tourism brochures they become dramatic scenery. In archaeological writing they can appear as corridors around monuments. In some conservation documents they are fragile spaces that need technical management from outside. But these descriptions miss something essential. Deserts are not empty. They are living landscapes, ecological archives and knowledge systems. For local desert communities, the landscape is not a blank background. It is read through water, plants, tracks, grazing routes, winds, seasonal movement, stories, risks and memories. A valley, a spring, a coastal plain or a mountain pass can hold information about how people and non-human life have adapted to scarcity. This kind of local ecological knowledge is not a decorative addition to conservation. It can help researchers and managers understand how landscapes are used, remembered and explained. In Egypt, this point matters urgently. The country is known globally for its ancient monuments, but its protected areas and biosphere reserves also contain another kind of heritage: Fossil valleys, desert plants, coral-linked coastal systems, migration routes, geological formations and human knowledge shaped by arid environments. If these landscapes are treated only as scenery, or as scientific sites separated from people, conservation loses part of its evidence base and much of its public meaning. At Wadi Al-Hitan in Fayoum, Egypt, visitors often arrive to see fossil whales, but the wider landscape tells a larger story: Ancient seas, changing climates, desert erosion and the long history&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/egypts-deserts-show-why-ecological-knowledge-matters-in-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/egypts-deserts-show-why-ecological-knowledge-matters-in-conservation-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326676</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Caught on camera: Sand cats may have a ‘sizable population’ in Qatar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 14:33:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Megerle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31051336/sand-cat-in-a-zoo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324908</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Middle East, and Qatar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, Deserts, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Mammals, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Muhammad Ali Nawaz didn’t expect to see so many cats. Nawaz, a wildlife ecologist at Qatar University, had set out to survey Qatar for the sand cat, a tiny, seldom-studied felid that lives in deserts across Southwest and Central Asia, northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Though there were anecdotal reports of the species in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Muhammad Ali Nawaz didn’t expect to see so many cats. Nawaz, a wildlife ecologist at Qatar University, had set out to survey Qatar for the sand cat, a tiny, seldom-studied felid that lives in deserts across Southwest and Central Asia, northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Though there were anecdotal reports of the species in Qatar — some cats photographed, some not — there were no systematic records. So, Nawaz and his collaborators set out an array of cameras and waited. “When I collected the cameras, it was a big surprise,” he told Mongabay on a video call. Between 2022 and 2025, the cameras photographed sand cats (Felis margarita) more than 100 times, all in Qatar’s Al-Ureiq Reserve — a protected area of roughly 55 square kilometers (21 square miles). Though it’s unclear how many individual cats triggered cameras, these images provide solid evidence of the species’ range and information on its habitat preferences, data that was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science. “This is a remarkable kind of a discovery and gives hope for the terrestrial wildlife in the country,” Nawaz said. Photographs captured during this study provide solid evidence of the species’ range and information on its habitat preferences. Image courtesy of Muhammad Ali Nawaz. A resilient desert-dweller Sand cats are perfectly suited for their desert homes. These diminutive felids’ sand-colored fur provides stellar camouflage. Dense fur on their paws insulates against hot sand. Their keen hearing can detect prey underground. They eat small mammals,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324908</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>California solar project threatens Mojave wildlife corridor, scientists say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/california-solar-project-threatens-mojave-wildlife-corridor-scientists-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/california-solar-project-threatens-mojave-wildlife-corridor-scientists-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 14:33:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hyeyoon Cho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/09114442/Desert-Solitaire_Bighorn-in-Joshua-Tree-National-Park-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322961</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deserts, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Habitat, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Mojave Desert may look like a flat, brown stretch of nothing between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But threading through its rocky mountain ranges is an intricate network of wildlife movement that has sustained desert species for thousands of years. Now, scientists and advocates say a solar project approved by the state of California [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Mojave Desert may look like a flat, brown stretch of nothing between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But threading through its rocky mountain ranges is an intricate network of wildlife movement that has sustained desert species for thousands of years. Now, scientists and advocates say a solar project approved by the state of California threatens to sever it. In April, the California Energy Commission, the state agency that oversees energy infrastructure, voted 4-0 to approve a $700 million, 1,080-hectare (2,670-acre) solar facility proposed by New Jersey-based developer VC Renewables on federal land adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve. The preserve, spanning more than 1.6 million acres, is one of the largest in the U.S. National Park System and is located in Southern California. The project, known as Soda Mountain Solar, sits in the migration corridor that desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) use to move between mountain ranges. This large solar array would also obstruct desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) habitat, which has already undergone significant loss due to climate change and land developments. The energy commission&#8217;s environmental review found the project would cause significant and unavoidable harm to wildlife. Scientists and conservation advocates say the approval threatens one of the last intact desert ecosystems in California. But the commission’s final order memo states that ecological mitigation incorporated into the solar project would reduce the impacts on desert wildlife to “less than significant” and that the commission expects the project will bring more renewable energy to the state. Scientists and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/california-solar-project-threatens-mojave-wildlife-corridor-scientists-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/california-solar-project-threatens-mojave-wildlife-corridor-scientists-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322961</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can ‘fog harvesting’ help solve water scarcity in Chile’s Atacama Desert?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-fog-harvesting-help-solve-water-scarcity-in-chiles-atacama-desert/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-fog-harvesting-help-solve-water-scarcity-in-chiles-atacama-desert/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 20:09:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17195707/AP275353435726-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Technology, Deserts, Environment, Natural Resources, Technology, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places in the world. Some areas only see rainfall a few times in a century, while others have never recorded rainfall at all. In many rural communities there, local governments have to truck in water from other parts of the country or extract it from deep underground [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places in the world. Some areas only see rainfall a few times in a century, while others have never recorded rainfall at all. In many rural communities there, local governments have to truck in water from other parts of the country or extract it from deep underground wells. But in harder-to-reach settlements, these solutions still aren’t cost-effective or reliable. To address the problem, residents and researchers have looked for more innovative methods of getting water out of the environment. Some have begun using the fog that often blankets northern Chile. Off the Pacific coast, cold air currents cool into low cloud cover that blows inland, getting stopped by coastal mountains and settling at ground level. With the right approach, groups have found ways to “capture,” or “harvest,” the fog, turning it into useable freshwater. “In a very simple way, we have to understand that clouds are made up of water droplets,” Camilo del Río, director of the Catholic University’s Atacama Desert Center in Chile, told Mongabay. “They’re already formed, they’re already condensed. So whenever a cloud is transported by wind and comes into contact with the Earth’s surface, what is touching the surface is thousands and thousands of liters [of water].” Local groups have found ways to harvest enough fog to supplement drinking water and bolster agricultural projects. But many challenges with the strategy still remain. Researchers want to harvest the fog more efficiently and at scale, one day convincing local officials&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-fog-harvesting-help-solve-water-scarcity-in-chiles-atacama-desert/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-fog-harvesting-help-solve-water-scarcity-in-chiles-atacama-desert/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Genetic study reveals extinction risk for unique mangrove-adapted pampas cat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 16:09:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05134141/1-desert-pampas-cat-Leopardus-garleppi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320650</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Deserts, Dry Forests, Environment, Extinction, Genetics, Habitat, Mammals, Mangroves, Research, Science, Small Cats, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, conservationists began working to preserve a unique population of desert pampas cats that has adapted to the mangroves of Peru’s northern coast. This small, isolated population roams the San Pedro de Vice dry mangroves, a Ramsar Site and South America’s southernmost mangrove ecosystem. “This is a very unique population, because [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, conservationists began working to preserve a unique population of desert pampas cats that has adapted to the mangroves of Peru’s northern coast. This small, isolated population roams the San Pedro de Vice dry mangroves, a Ramsar Site and South America’s southernmost mangrove ecosystem. “This is a very unique population, because as far as we know, [it] is the only Pampas cat population that lives in a mangrove [habitat],” Alvaro Garcia, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project, told Mongabay in an email. The desert pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi), distinctive for its broad face, ranges along a relatively thin band snaking southward from Colombia through Peru and Bolivia, to northern Chile and Argentina. The species is acclimated to dry conditions, so inhabits deserts, grasslands and dry forests, and isn’t found living in mangroves anywhere else aside from this region of Peru. Dry mangrove forests, also called scrub or dwarf mangrove forests, grow in highly saline soils in upper intertidal zones, so lack regular daily flushing by ocean tides. At first, it was thought the dry mangrove-acclimated cats were faring well: “[I]n the mangrove [habitat], we put cameras out for a week, and we got tons of photos,” whereas in other parts of the felid’s range, conservationists barely capture one desert pampas cat image per month, said Cindy Hurtado, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project. Based on the photos, the research team assumed the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Using songlines, elders codify traditional knowledge to care for Country</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 16:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anthony Ham]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07001403/DSC_8090-scaled-e1778171080149-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318952</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Deserts, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Religions, Solutions, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LAJAMANU, Australia — A group of Warlpiri men and women gathered along one of the most remote tracks in Australia and stared intently at the ground. Here in the Tanami Desert, along the dirt back road between Lajamanu and Tennant Creek, they all agreed that the tracks they could see told a story: A dingo, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LAJAMANU, Australia — A group of Warlpiri men and women gathered along one of the most remote tracks in Australia and stared intently at the ground. Here in the Tanami Desert, along the dirt back road between Lajamanu and Tennant Creek, they all agreed that the tracks they could see told a story: A dingo, a black-headed python and a hopping mouse had all passed this way. They argued over the finer points — when exactly the animals had left these signs, whether the python was pursuing the mouse or whether it was an adult or juvenile dingo. But from these seemingly random marks in the sand, they were able to piece together a picture of what had occurred, in what order or when. These were the Warlpiri’s kuyu pungu (expert trackers), capable of reading the deserts of Australia in precise detail. Everyone here was born, and has lived, in the desert for most of their lives. They learned the essential skills of a self-sufficient desert life as their ancestors had, by observing their elders out in the desert. They have a profound connection with the land, and from that flows an intimate understanding of their world, one that encompasses everything from ecology to spirituality. Footprints in the sand along a sandy track outside Lajamanu. Image by Anthony Ham. And yet, often for a younger generation of Warlpiri, many of whom lived in towns with only irregular excursions into the countryside, such opportunities are rare. Which is why the Warlpiri&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>UN recognition is latest boost to restoring spekboom across South Africa’s semidesert Karoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/un-recognition-is-latest-boost-to-restoring-spekboom-across-south-africas-semidesert-karoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/un-recognition-is-latest-boost-to-restoring-spekboom-across-south-africas-semidesert-karoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2026 12:40:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joe Walsh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/17121000/20250610_UNEP-Decade-on-Ecosystem-Restoration_South-African-Thicket_Todd-Brown_31-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314351</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Conservation, Desertification, Deserts, Drought, Ecosystems, Environment, Landscape Restoration, Plants, Reforestation, Restoration, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Spekboom is everywhere, it’s all anyone talks about … what used to be an Angora goat farming town is now a spekboom town,” says field ecologist Rae Attridge. In the past two years, Nat Carbon, the carbon project developer Attridge works for, has planted 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of spekboom in the Klein Karoo, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Spekboom is everywhere, it’s all anyone talks about … what used to be an Angora goat farming town is now a spekboom town,” says field ecologist Rae Attridge. In the past two years, Nat Carbon, the carbon project developer Attridge works for, has planted 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of spekboom in the Klein Karoo, a semidesert region of South Africa. Their work is the first phase of an effort to restore 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of degraded land on five farms near Jansenville in Eastern Cape province. The company is one of more than 60 entities carrying out spekboom thicket restoration projects across 800,000 hectares (2 million acres), all loosely tied up under what the United Nations calls the Thicket Restoration Movement. The Subtropical Thicket Restoration Programme was started in 2004 by the South African government with $8 million of funding intended to catalyze large-scale investment into thicket restoration efforts in the region. These were the first green shoots of a growing collection of projects now recognized by the U.N. In 2009, researchers had planted spekboom (Porticularia afra) on 331 quarter-hectare plots scattered across over roughly 7.5 million hectares (18.5 million acres) of the biome to evaluate the potential for restoration. These earlier experiments found that thicker stems would increase survival rates, but watering at planting time had a negligible impact. It also found that animals, both wild and domestic, easily found their way to these small poorly protected plots. An Angora goat in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/un-recognition-is-latest-boost-to-restoring-spekboom-across-south-africas-semidesert-karoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/un-recognition-is-latest-boost-to-restoring-spekboom-across-south-africas-semidesert-karoo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314351</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Up close with Mexico’s fish-eating bats: Interview with researcher José Juan Flores Martínez</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 17:54:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30230254/murcielago-pescador-cover3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312388</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Coastal Ecosystems, Deserts, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Fishing, Green, Interviews, Invasive Species, Islands, Mammals, Marine, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to Isla Partida Norte near the city of La Paz, where something surprised them: they heard bats. Accustomed to seeing them in caves, Flores Martínez was intrigued when he saw them coming out from between the rocks and making clicking sounds under his feet. “It surprised me to find out that they were on an island, in the middle of the desert, under extreme conditions: They can resist sub[-freezing] temperatures and heat above 50 degrees [Celsius, or about 122° Fahrenheit],” said Flores Martínez, now an academic technician at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) Institute of Biology. “But it was much more surprising to me that, when I began to ask questions, I was told that they feed on fish.” They were fish-eating bats (Myotis vivesi), and they fascinated Flores Martínez. This fascination led him, along with researcher Gerardo Herrera Montalvo, to embark on a scientific journey that has lasted a quarter of a century and counting. The fish-eating bat is the largest bat in its genus, reaching up to 16 centimeters (about 6 inches) in length. Its long, shiny fur is waterproof, which comes in handy as it maneuvers above the surface of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can we create new inland seas to lower sea level rise? Interview with researcher Amir AghaKouchak</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-we-create-new-inland-seas-to-lower-sea-level-rise-interview-with-researcher-amir-aghakouchak/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-we-create-new-inland-seas-to-lower-sea-level-rise-interview-with-researcher-amir-aghakouchak/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2025 16:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08125940/Krzysztof-Ziarnek-Kenraiz-Soda_schweinfurthii_kz02-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310742</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Deserts, Environment, Extreme Weather, Impact Of Climate Change, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Land Use Change, Oceans, Politics, and Sea Levels]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sea levels are rising, threatening coastal areas, including cities, around the world. Due to climate change, the global ocean has already risen by 21-24 centimeters (about 8-9.5 inches) since 1880, and the rate is accelerating, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A new climate idea aims to slow this rise by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sea levels are rising, threatening coastal areas, including cities, around the world. Due to climate change, the global ocean has already risen by 21-24 centimeters (about 8-9.5 inches) since 1880, and the rate is accelerating, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A new climate idea aims to slow this rise by moving seawater to reflood inland depressions. The main causes of sea level rise are ice packs melting and the volume of water in the ocean expanding as Earth’s temperature increases due to human-caused climate change. Depending on the ferocity with which we cut greenhouse gas emissions, predictions of future sea level rise vary widely. According to NOAA, if we cap the global temperature rise at just 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — nearly impossible at this point — the sea level would rise an additional 30 cm (12 in) by 2100. If emissions remain at the very high end of estimates, sea levels could rise by 200 cm (6.6 feet) by the end of the century, flooding many of the world’s coastlines and affecting tens of millions of people. There are even worse scenarios: if we lose much of Greenland’s ice sheet or the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica — dubbed the Doomsday Glacier — the resultant rise in water level could affect billions. A new research grant is looking at the idea of reflooding lowland depressions to alleviate the problem on the coasts, starting with the Qattara Depression, a massive low-lying desert area&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-we-create-new-inland-seas-to-lower-sea-level-rise-interview-with-researcher-amir-aghakouchak/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-we-create-new-inland-seas-to-lower-sea-level-rise-interview-with-researcher-amir-aghakouchak/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310742</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From waffle gardens to terraces, Indigenous groups revive farming heritage in America’s deserts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 16:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/18160138/RS-harvesting-corn-e1763482162234-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309750</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Climate Change, Culture, Deserts, Drought, Farming, Food, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Subsistence Agriculture, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1985, with two young daughters and little money, Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor and ceramic artist, returned from her studies in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico state. Her art was years away from producing real income, so she took to the land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1985, with two young daughters and little money, Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor and ceramic artist, returned from her studies in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico state. Her art was years away from producing real income, so she took to the land to sustain herself and her girls. “I had this dry patch in the high desert, nothing but a driveway really,” recalls Swentzell, who was just 23 at the time. “I started making it into a homesite, a farm I could cultivate to feed my family. And in time, a little forest.” To grow corn and squash, onions and garlic, beans, berries and amaranth grains, Swentzell tapped into the ancient, dry-farming traditions of her people in the southwestern U.S., where sunshine is as abundant as rain is scarce. These proven, age-old farming techniques — applicable to many other parched, arid regions affected by climate change — have deep and expanding roots among Hopi and Navajo tribes in Arizona while experiencing a resurgence among the Pueblos (Indigenous tribes) of New Mexico through groups such as the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA) and the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture initiative. During Native American Heritage Month in November, Mongabay spoke with the leaders of these groups about their traditional farming techniques and how they can be replicated in increasingly dry regions around the world. In Santa Fe, saving traditional seeds native to the Southwestern US high desert, such as these&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309750</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to clean solar panels in arid areas? Waterless systems could improve efficiency</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-clean-solar-panels-in-arid-areas-waterless-systems-could-improve-efficiency/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-clean-solar-panels-in-arid-areas-waterless-systems-could-improve-efficiency/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2025 16:41:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Samuel Ogunsona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/24125511/Yurt_in_Gobi_Desert-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308253</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, Deserts, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world grapples with the challenges of meeting rising electricity demand, particularly in developing countries, solar energy has emerged as a beacon of hope. In sub-Saharan Africa, where energy poverty is a persistent challenge, the potential for solar energy is vast. Monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) panels have become a popular choice for solar energy generation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world grapples with the challenges of meeting rising electricity demand, particularly in developing countries, solar energy has emerged as a beacon of hope. In sub-Saharan Africa, where energy poverty is a persistent challenge, the potential for solar energy is vast. Monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) panels have become a popular choice for solar energy generation in the region. These panels convert sunlight into electrical energy, providing a clean and renewable source of power. However, efficiency is affected by the harsh environmental conditions in arid regions. One of the major challenges facing solar panels is the accumulation of dust, bird droppings and other contaminants on the panel surface. Research has shown that dust accumulation can significantly reduce a solar panel’s power output up to 56% over time, compared with clean modules. Research also shows that the method of cleaning affects solar panel efficiency, depending on whether soap or pressurized water are used. “Cleaning using water is an effective method but it needs pressurized water or a cleaning brush to help the water to remove sticky or muddy particles,” the authors of a 2013 Energy Conservation and Management study write. The study also notes that surfactants (soap) help maintain the panel’s efficiency. A Syrian man, Abdul Razzaq Al-Jenan, cleans solar panels on his house roof, in Damascus. Image by AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed. In many parts of the world, manual cleaning of solar panels using water, brushes and mild soap is a common practice, but it has downsides: It can be labor-intensive, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-clean-solar-panels-in-arid-areas-waterless-systems-could-improve-efficiency/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308253</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change tests the resilience of people and desert-adapted wildlife in Namibia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/climate-change-tests-the-resilience-of-people-and-desert-adapted-wildlife-in-namibia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/climate-change-tests-the-resilience-of-people-and-desert-adapted-wildlife-in-namibia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2025 15:39:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petro Kotzé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/20152817/elephant-in-namibia-Emsie-Verwey-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304647</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Climate Justice, Conservation, Desertification, Deserts, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SESFONTEIN, Namibia ­­­— “I want my children to see a rhino with their own eyes — not only in Etosha [National Park],” says Sofia /Nuas, a member of the Sesfontein Conservancy Committee, located in Namibia’s arid northwest. She’s sitting in the shade of a large sausage tree, yet even on this winter morning temperatures have quickly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SESFONTEIN, Namibia ­­­— “I want my children to see a rhino with their own eyes — not only in Etosha [National Park],” says Sofia /Nuas, a member of the Sesfontein Conservancy Committee, located in Namibia’s arid northwest. She’s sitting in the shade of a large sausage tree, yet even on this winter morning temperatures have quickly soared to more than 30° Celsius (86° Fahrenheit). Life in this hot and dry region is already tough, but climate change will intensify it. With a population of less than 3,000, Sesfontein is a small settlement located in the Northwestern Escarpment and Inselbergs of the Nama Karoo Biome. Cattle and goats meander across dusty roads, but tourists are also drawn to the desert-like outpost for its enigmatic landscapes and a chance to glimpse some of the world’s last free-roaming, critically endangered black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), as well as Namibia’s famed desert-adapted lions (Panthera leo) and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana). Their presence here is no accident. Once near-depleted, the wildlife is protected not only by fences and the government, but by the communities who share the land with free-roaming predators and herds of springboks (Antidorcas marsupialis), giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) and gemsboks (Oryx gazella). The Sesfontein Conservancy is one of more than 80 communal conservancies in Namibia. For decades, these conservancies have helped bring wildlife back from the brink, in a model of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) that has resulted in swaths of land conserving Namibia’s wildlife beyond government-run national parks. The model’s continued success&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/climate-change-tests-the-resilience-of-people-and-desert-adapted-wildlife-in-namibia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304647</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green hydrogen development threatens wildlife in Chile</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 09:02:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/15171142/53691573799_41b200264f_6k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304393</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Business, Clean Energy, Conservation, Deserts, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fellows, Green, Greenwashing, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Politics, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Green hydrogen promoters tout it as the clean energy of the future. In 2020, Chile launched its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, looking to position the country as a leader in producing and exporting hydrogen by 2030 while reaching carbon neutrality. “Today we are taking a new step forward in producing clean energy, protecting nature and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Green hydrogen promoters tout it as the clean energy of the future. In 2020, Chile launched its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, looking to position the country as a leader in producing and exporting hydrogen by 2030 while reaching carbon neutrality. “Today we are taking a new step forward in producing clean energy, protecting nature and fighting climate change,” former President Sebastián Piñera said in 2021 at the moment Chile produced its first molecule of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is a form of fuel produced using renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind) via water electrolysis, a chemical process that uses electricity to break the chemical bonds in water (H2O) and produce oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) gas molecules. The industry sector sees this sort of hydrogen as a valuable tool that can help globally decarbonize or reduce the carbon emissions of mining, metal, chemical and fertilizer production, among others, which do not find another viable way of reducing their emissions. It has earned the nickname the “champagne of energies.” Detractors, however, note that despite being seen as a premium and versatile energy source, green hydrogen is highly expensive and inefficient. Most of the hydrogen produced worldwide is derived from natural gas, creating what is known as grey hydrogen, which releases significant volumes of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the current climate crisis. Another alternative, blue hydrogen, is also produced from natural gas, while capturing CO2 and storing it underground. This can result in leaking high quantities of methane (CH4), a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In rare triumph, camera traps snap endangered wildcats in Pakistan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-rare-triumph-camera-traps-snap-endangered-wildcats-in-pakistan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-rare-triumph-camera-traps-snap-endangered-wildcats-in-pakistan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2025 17:46:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/21133948/Image_1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302882</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, Deserts, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Mining, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists snapped images of two small wildcat species in Pakistan earlier this year: an Asiatic caracal (Caracal caracal schimitzi) and a sand cat (Felis margarita) — both which are incredibly rare in the country. Information on both cats in Pakistan is limited, with the sand cat presumed possibly extinct there, according to the IUCN, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists snapped images of two small wildcat species in Pakistan earlier this year: an Asiatic caracal (Caracal caracal schimitzi) and a sand cat (Felis margarita) — both which are incredibly rare in the country. Information on both cats in Pakistan is limited, with the sand cat presumed possibly extinct there, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. The camera-trap image of the caracal is “very rare visual evidence of the once widespread but now rapidly declining species,” says Zafeer Ahmed Shaikh, director of the Indus Fishing Cat Project. That image — the first camera-trap record of a caracal in Pakistan, according to Shaikh — came from Kirthar National Park, where the Indus Fishing Cat Project, an NGO, has had cameras set for around four years. The team decided to extend its camera trapping after earlier reports of a caracal crossing a road in broad daylight in the area in January this year. The NGO’s local partners, Qalandar Burfat, Zohaib Ahmed and Ramzan Burfat, set up the trap near a watering hole inside the national park. “There was only one singular video of this male cat from about 400 videos at this particular camera station across a two-week-long period,” Shaikh says. Unfortunately, another sighting included one juvenile cat killed in the national park by local people. These images offer firm evidence that caracals are still present in Pakistan, says Jim Sanderson, founder and director of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation. “But, as with most places, we have no&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-rare-triumph-camera-traps-snap-endangered-wildcats-in-pakistan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-rare-triumph-camera-traps-snap-endangered-wildcats-in-pakistan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/21135505/Image_2_video-2.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302882</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In California, an invasive mustard is destabilizing desert plant communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-california-an-invasive-mustard-is-destabilizing-desert-plant-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-california-an-invasive-mustard-is-destabilizing-desert-plant-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2025 16:27:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maya L. Kapoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/16131330/sahara-mustard-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deserts, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Invasive Species, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In southern California’s Coachella Valley, pale sand dunes sprawl under the desert sun, shifting and re-forming in the wind. In dry years, lone shrubs dot the dunes. But the landscape bursts with color and greenery after a wet winter. That’s because seeds of desert plants may wait in the soil for years, even decades, for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In southern California’s Coachella Valley, pale sand dunes sprawl under the desert sun, shifting and re-forming in the wind. In dry years, lone shrubs dot the dunes. But the landscape bursts with color and greenery after a wet winter. That’s because seeds of desert plants may wait in the soil for years, even decades, for the right conditions to sprout. But an introduced mustard species that arrived a century ago is having an unexpected impact. The Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii) is creating less stable plant communities by outcompeting native species in the Coachella Valley’s Mojave Desert, according to a 17-year study published in the journal Ecology. These findings raise questions about how well native plants will persist in an increasingly unpredictable environment. Across ecosystems, “asynchrony” – species responding differently to weather and other cues –  increases diversity. In the Mojave Desert, many plant species coexist by germinating at different times, or even in different years. A research plot in the Coachella Valley sand dunes, which researchers surveyed for 17 years. Sahara mustards form the yellow patch in the background. Image by Lynn Sweet/University of California, Riverside. Generalist species such as Sahara mustard can upset this balance. “The invasive species that come in&#8230;can germinate year-round, even though our natives wait because they&#8217;re used to their germination cues,” said Clarissa Rodriguez, a plant ecologist at the University of San Diego who led this research. Although the region’s spring bloom of native plants has ended for this year, she said, “If you go&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-california-an-invasive-mustard-is-destabilizing-desert-plant-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Pakistan, desert irrigation plans spark protests &#038; fears among Sindh farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-pakistan-desert-irrigation-plans-spark-protests-fears-among-sindh-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-pakistan-desert-irrigation-plans-spark-protests-fears-among-sindh-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2025 03:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Waqas Alam Angaria]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/27114704/A_semi-nomadic_man_carries_water_in_the_Cholistan_Desert-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deserts, Development, Drinking Water, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Fellows, Fish, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Industrial Agriculture, Protests, Rivers, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On April 6, Wajahat Hussain, a Sindhi human rights lawyer, spoke at a protest against the planned Cholistan Canal Project on the Indus River in Pakistan. “We will continue fighting against the recent canals and won’t let the state kill us by thirst,” he said. His words came in response to a 945 billion rupee [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On April 6, Wajahat Hussain, a Sindhi human rights lawyer, spoke at a protest against the planned Cholistan Canal Project on the Indus River in Pakistan. “We will continue fighting against the recent canals and won’t let the state kill us by thirst,” he said. His words came in response to a 945 billion rupee ($3.3 billion) project, the Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI), which would transform the Cholistan Desert with corporate farming, creating six canals to divert water from the river system, leaving small farmers without their farms and Sindh fishers more vulnerable to water scarcity and prolonged droughts. The Cholistan Canal Project is the biggest component of GPI, a joint effort of the Pakistan Army and government, launched in February. The project aims to irrigate 1.9 million hectares (4.8 million acres) of barren desert land in Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, to enhance food production and economic growth. The Cholistan Desert is not just a barren land but home to many local and endangered species like the caracal cat (Caracal caracal), chinkara gazelle (Gazella bennettii), houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) and desert fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla). Turning the desert green would contribute to the decline of these species. Corporate farming would use the latest modern techniques like AI-based disease, weed and pest detection, soil viability mapping, yield forecasting and monitoring. In this way, human labor would be minimized and production of wheat, cotton, rice and canola would likely increase substantially. Thousands of protesters have blocked the major highway in Sindh&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-pakistan-desert-irrigation-plans-spark-protests-fears-among-sindh-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Where war once raged in Iraq, Yezidi women plant hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/where-war-once-raged-in-iraq-yezidi-women-plant-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/where-war-once-raged-in-iraq-yezidi-women-plant-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2025 15:25:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Bociaga]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/14123702/Yezidi-women-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297536</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Iraq, and Middle East]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Desertification, Ecosystems, Education, Environment, Forestry, Gender, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Landscape Restoration, Restoration, Sustainable Development, Trees, War, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KHANKE, Iraq — In the wind-swept town of Khanke in northern Iraq, a fragile tree stands as a quiet symbol of resilience. Its slender trunk bends slightly in the dry breeze, its roots gripping soil once strewn with plastic waste. Beneath its shade, a group of women gathers: survivors of war, displacement, and unimaginable loss. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KHANKE, Iraq — In the wind-swept town of Khanke in northern Iraq, a fragile tree stands as a quiet symbol of resilience. Its slender trunk bends slightly in the dry breeze, its roots gripping soil once strewn with plastic waste. Beneath its shade, a group of women gathers: survivors of war, displacement, and unimaginable loss. Yet here, they are not victims — they are custodians of renewal. These women, many of them ethnic Yezidis who escaped the 2014 ISIS genocide in Sinjar district, are rebuilding not just their lives, but the landscape around them. Armed with shovels and buckets, they have turned barren spaces into green sanctuaries, planting more than 2,000 trees and nurturing hope in a place where despair once took root. Their efforts are part of Clean Green, a grassroots environmental initiative founded by Yezidi women determined to restore their surroundings. The project began with just five volunteers in 2023 but has since grown into a network of more than 40 members who plant trees, recycle, and teach children about environmental stewardship. For Suzan Haskani, a Yezidi woman who fled ISIS at the age of 14, joining Clean Green brought purpose. “When I first arrived in Khanke, I wasn’t thinking about trees or cleaning,” she says. “I was thinking about safety, like everyone else.” That sense of safety, however, feels fragile. Even as some displaced families now mull returning to Sinjar, they say their homeland has changed. “Even if Sinjar was safe, people can’t farm like before,” says&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/where-war-once-raged-in-iraq-yezidi-women-plant-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297536</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists study plant restoration in Argentina’s deserts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2025 15:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/14151711/3-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295838</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Desertification, Landscape Restoration, and Regenerative production landscapes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For a plant, life in Argentina’s Monte Desert is hard enough. Daily temperatures can fluctuate dramatically; it rarely rains, and there are few nutrients in the parched soil for a hungry plant. To add to their struggles: Across this desert, a long history of oil drilling and a new boom in fracking have left hundreds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For a plant, life in Argentina’s Monte Desert is hard enough. Daily temperatures can fluctuate dramatically; it rarely rains, and there are few nutrients in the parched soil for a hungry plant. To add to their struggles: Across this desert, a long history of oil drilling and a new boom in fracking have left hundreds of sites where plants have been completely wiped out, and the soil replaced with trucked-in, densely compacted dirt. When those drilling sites go quiet, plants often struggle to recolonize the places they once lived. In a 2024 study, researchers from the National University of Comahue examined whether a technique required by the local government to aid restoration helps plants regrow at these former drilling sites. They found that the technique, a type of assisted natural regeneration (ANR), is a bit of a mixed bag: The restored sites still had much lower plant density, diversity and plant coverage when compared with undisturbed sites. However, about 40% of the species that might be found in an undisturbed site were present in the ANR-remediated sites, including some species the researchers didn’t expect. “We were surprised,” says primary investigator Florencia del Mar González, a researcher at Comahue&#8217;s Laboratory of Rehabilitation and Ecological Restoration of Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems (LARREA). When looking at satellite images before their fieldwork, del Mar González and her team saw little regrowth at the former drilling sites. However, when they went into the field, “we began to find some response from the ecosystem in some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295838</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lake Chad isn’t shrinking — but climate change is causing other problems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2025 22:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/28223327/woman-flood-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295179</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Conflict, Desertification, Deserts, Drought, Environment, Fishing, Flooding, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Gender, Global Warming, Grasslands, Green, Lakes, Land Conflict, Reforestation, Social Conflict, Trees, Tropical Forests, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The communities around Lake Chad have always lived by its water rhythms. Now, as climate change impacts intensify, they must find new ways to adapt. The Lake Chad Basin lies in the Sahel, on the southern edge of the Sahara. The basin is enormous, covering 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles), or 8% of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The communities around Lake Chad have always lived by its water rhythms. Now, as climate change impacts intensify, they must find new ways to adapt. The Lake Chad Basin lies in the Sahel, on the southern edge of the Sahara. The basin is enormous, covering 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles), or 8% of the African continent, straddling eight countries. Lake Chad sits at the end point of this drainage basin, an unexpected bounty of water in a dry land. An estimated 3 million people live near the lake, and 49 million more live in the basin and depend on its resources. The amount of water in Lake Chad is closely linked to climate as it’s in a closed drainage system, with rivers leading into, but not out of, the lake. The volume of water going into the lake — via the Chari, Logone and other rivers — largely depends on the amount of rain in the catchment area. As the lake is wide and shallow, currently averaging less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) in depth, changes in rainfall have a dramatic effect on its size. The lake swells and recedes seasonally and between years. But the most dramatic changes happen over decades. Lake Chad straddles four countries: Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. Image captured Dec. 2024 by Planet Labs. In the 1960s, Lake Chad’s waters covered 25,000 km2 (9,653 mi2), making it the sixth-largest lake in the world. Then, in the 1970s and ‘80s, as drought gripped the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295179</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>We must prioritize rangeland conservation for planetary health and biodiversity (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/we-must-prioritize-rangeland-conservation-for-planetary-health-and-biodiversity-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/we-must-prioritize-rangeland-conservation-for-planetary-health-and-biodiversity-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2024 20:31:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dr. Igshaan Samuels]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/16144518/15060604824_94f3772b9b_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291753</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Desertification, Environment, Livestock, Pasture, Ranching, Sustainability, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in awareness about the importance of rainforests to global ecosystems and economies. Meanwhile, another biome – one that covers more than half of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is similarly important to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation – has been overlooked. Rangelands, despite [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in awareness about the importance of rainforests to global ecosystems and economies. Meanwhile, another biome – one that covers more than half of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is similarly important to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation – has been overlooked. Rangelands, despite their size and significance, have been historically under-appreciated in global sustainability discussions. However, as this “triple COP” year of three UN summits draws to a close, we have an opportunity to reverse this trend. By giving rangelands the consideration and support they deserve, their potential to help lower emissions, reduce biodiversity loss, and reverse land degradation can be realized. Rangelands cover more than 79 million square kilometers of grasslands, savannas, deserts, shrublands, and tundra globally. But they are more than just expansive open landscapes – rangelands are central to global economies, ecosystems, and cultures. Camels, cattle and goats are a common sight on the rangelands of northern Kenya. Image courtesy of Peyton Fleming. In some African countries, for example, rangelands are key to the livestock sector, providing natural forage for cattle, sheep, goats and camels. Globally, they provide over 70% of the forage consumed by livestock, underpinning a significant portion of the global protein supply – especially for 200 million pastoralists. Overall, rangelands support the food security and livelihoods of up to two billion people. They also foster some of the most biodiverse areas in the world and are home to 30% of biodiversity hotspots, including the Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/we-must-prioritize-rangeland-conservation-for-planetary-health-and-biodiversity-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291753</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study looks for success factors in African projects that heal land and help people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/study-looks-for-success-factors-in-african-projects-that-heal-land-and-help-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/study-looks-for-success-factors-in-african-projects-that-heal-land-and-help-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2024 22:09:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/13220001/Cheetahs_tracking_scents-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291546</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Restoration Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Burkina Faso, Central Africa, Namibia, Niger, Southern Africa, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Critically Endangered Species, Desertification, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Rainforests, Reforestation, Restoration, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Argan oil cooperatives in Morocco. Regreening Niger. Revitalizing a national park in Madagascar. Wildlife conservancies in Namibia. Cashew plantations in Burkina Faso. Beach management in Kenya. Agroforestry in Ghana. These are but a smattering of the many initiatives that have tried to reverse land degradation in Africa while improving people’s lives. Some succeeded, others failed, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Argan oil cooperatives in Morocco. Regreening Niger. Revitalizing a national park in Madagascar. Wildlife conservancies in Namibia. Cashew plantations in Burkina Faso. Beach management in Kenya. Agroforestry in Ghana. These are but a smattering of the many initiatives that have tried to reverse land degradation in Africa while improving people’s lives. Some succeeded, others failed, and as a recent study finds, the outcomes are devilishly difficult to predict. Nearly half of Africa is affected by desertification, and two-thirds of productive land is degraded, according to a 2021 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); yet, 60% of people in Africa depend on their land and forests. The Torra Conservancy, northwest Namibia. Much of the arid landscape is unsuitable for farming, and income from tourism, including a partnership with Wilderness Safaris, provides substantial benefits for conservancy members. Image by Sonse via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). “I do a lot of projects where I go to the communities, and I work with people to change things, and to imagine how we could improve things,” says Camille Jahel, a researcher at the French Agricultural Centre for International Development (CIRAD). “At one point we wanted to know, but is it possible? Is it even possible to have a sustainable change?” To be clear, this is not an entirely new question. But Jahel says that while there’s a trove of theoretical work, few studies have looked at on-the-ground projects in Africa and holistically considered the complex combination of local dynamics,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/study-looks-for-success-factors-in-african-projects-that-heal-land-and-help-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/study-looks-for-success-factors-in-african-projects-that-heal-land-and-help-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291546</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agroecology offers blueprint for resilient farming in northern Ghana</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agroecology-offers-blueprint-for-resilient-farming-in-northern-ghana/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agroecology-offers-blueprint-for-resilient-farming-in-northern-ghana/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2024 13:49:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caleb Ahinakwah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/04140642/40099205142_33faee2270_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Desertification, Environment, Forests, Reforestation, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Farmers in Ghana’s Upper East region traditionally decided when to plant and harvest their crops in rhythm with regular rainfall cycles. But the rains now come at increasingly odd times, farmland is turning into desert, and farmers have been forced to endure temperatures high enough to melt tarmac. Amid these impacts, agroforestry is offering a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Farmers in Ghana’s Upper East region traditionally decided when to plant and harvest their crops in rhythm with regular rainfall cycles. But the rains now come at increasingly odd times, farmland is turning into desert, and farmers have been forced to endure temperatures high enough to melt tarmac. Amid these impacts, agroforestry is offering a glimmer of hope: by integrating trees, crops and livestock on their fields, farmers are finding ways to restore their land and secure livelihoods. Climate change is increasingly visible in the Upper East, a savanna landscape in northern Ghana that usually experiences five months of rain between July and August, tapering off by October. Isaac Papanko grows millet near the small town of Bongo. “When I was a child, the rains came when they were supposed to, and the land could hold water. Now, the soil cracks under the sun, and crops wither before they can even grow,” he told Mongabay by phone. His story is reiterated by many others, highlighting the uncertainty that’s replacing once reliable cycles. In the fields that spread beyond the mud-walled compounds of Bolgatanga, the regional capital, Ibrahim Tuzee acknowledged the ways that residents have exacerbated the impacts of changing weather. Like many others, his family supplements its harvest of millet, sorghum and maize with income from selling firewood. “We cut trees down to make space for farming, but we didn’t know it would bring this kind of hardship. The winds are harsher without the trees, and the soil gets blown&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agroecology-offers-blueprint-for-resilient-farming-in-northern-ghana/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agroecology-offers-blueprint-for-resilient-farming-in-northern-ghana/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Easy to catch, yet little known: Meet the Chinese mountain cat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/easy-to-catch-yet-little-known-meet-the-chinese-mountain-cat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/easy-to-catch-yet-little-known-meet-the-chinese-mountain-cat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2024 17:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/15144323/han3-The-adult-female-Chinese-mountain-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, and Tibetan Plateau]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Deserts, Ecology, Environment, Invasive Species, Mammals, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, Han Xue-song, then a researcher with the Beijing-based Shan Shui Conservation Center, was in the Sanjiangyuan region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surveying black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis). At an elevation of more than 4000 meters (13,000 feet), this is a windswept land of alpine meadows and rolling hills that stretch as far as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, Han Xue-song, then a researcher with the Beijing-based Shan Shui Conservation Center, was in the Sanjiangyuan region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surveying black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis). At an elevation of more than 4000 meters (13,000 feet), this is a windswept land of alpine meadows and rolling hills that stretch as far as the eye can see. On this particular day in mid-September, Han and his colleagues were taking a break by the side of the road when they spotted something on a distant hillside. The animal was difficult to make out, but looked like a red fox (Vulpes vulpes), which are fairly common in the area. Han took out his camera, snapped a couple of pictures with its powerful 400-millimeter lens, and didn’t think much more about it. But later that evening, when Han downloaded the photos, he was in for a surprise. A strange cat — about twice the size of a domestic cat, with straw-colored fur, tufted ears, a white lower lip, and startling blue eyes — was staring back at him. Beside her was a small kitten. It was only after Han sent the photo to another biologist that he realized the significance of the find. “Even at that time, when we had the picture in our hands, we didn&#8217;t know that&#8217;s a Chinese mountain cat,” Han says. “Most of us had never heard of that species.” The Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti) is China’s only endemic felid, and one of the least-known small cats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/easy-to-catch-yet-little-known-meet-the-chinese-mountain-cat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/easy-to-catch-yet-little-known-meet-the-chinese-mountain-cat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Local NGO RAINS brings relief to Ghana’s semiarid north with regenerative farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/local-ngo-rains-brings-relief-to-ghanas-semiarid-north-with-regenerative-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/local-ngo-rains-brings-relief-to-ghanas-semiarid-north-with-regenerative-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2024 13:35:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/16123119/40132068671_aea784cf4a_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288824</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Desertification, Environment, Forests, Fuelwood, NGOs, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In northern Ghana, communities are facing food insecurity and declining livelihoods due to erratic weather, degraded soils and loss of forests. Among those working on ways to unpick this complicated knot of challenges in the Northern Savannah Zone is an NGO called the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems, or RAINS. The NSZ stretches 97,000 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In northern Ghana, communities are facing food insecurity and declining livelihoods due to erratic weather, degraded soils and loss of forests. Among those working on ways to unpick this complicated knot of challenges in the Northern Savannah Zone is an NGO called the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems, or RAINS. The NSZ stretches 97,000 square kilometers (37,500 square miles) across northern Ghana, where people have long grown maize, millet, yam, groundnuts and soybeans in a landscape dominated by shea nut, baobab and acacia trees. Home to more than 5 million people today, the ecological balance of this semiarid ecosystem is in danger: forest cover here declined by 77% between 2001 and 2015, according to the United Nations Development Programme. “Evidence abounds in Ghana that temperatures in all the ecological zones including the Northern Region are rising, whereas rainfall levels and patterns have been generally reducing and increasingly becoming erratic,” Hardi Tijani, executive director of RAINS, told Mongabay via email. “Soil degradation and erosion caused by alternating floods and droughts are leading to creeping desertification.” He said these changes have affected residents&#8217; harvests, prompting many to turn to felling trees for timber and charcoal to earn additional income, further aggravating damage to the landscape. Charcoal production near Chiana, Kassena Nankana District &#8211; Ghana. Image by Axel Fassio/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). To counter the threats and break this cycle, RAINS is explaining and supporting regenerative agricultural practices to farmers across the region, including intercropping, the planting of cover crops,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/local-ngo-rains-brings-relief-to-ghanas-semiarid-north-with-regenerative-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288824</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-madagascar-taniala-regenerative-camp-aims-to-heal-deforestation-scars/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-madagascar-taniala-regenerative-camp-aims-to-heal-deforestation-scars/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Oct 2024 16:57:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mino Rakotovao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/03144815/TanialaPhoto5-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288164</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Desertification, Environment, Forests, Fuelwood, NGOs, Protected Areas, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Menabe Antimena Protected Area in midwestern Madagascar is badly scarred by deforestation; farmers from the surrounding communities have encroached on this unique dry forest ecosystem in search of new and fertile land to grow crops like maize and peanuts. But amid the damage, in the village of Lambokely, is a carefully tended exception. Roland [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Menabe Antimena Protected Area in midwestern Madagascar is badly scarred by deforestation; farmers from the surrounding communities have encroached on this unique dry forest ecosystem in search of new and fertile land to grow crops like maize and peanuts. But amid the damage, in the village of Lambokely, is a carefully tended exception. Roland Frédéric Tahina and a group of volunteers tend baobabs, Indian siris and a range of indigenous species they’ve planted on a small plot they’ve named the Taniala Regenerative Camp. Local communities in Menabe depend on agriculture, hunting, charcoal production and the extraction of timber and non-timber forest products for their livelihood and income. Because of limited rainfall, poor soil quality and an increasingly arid climate, they face acute food insecurity. Their primary farming method — using fire to clear new areas to grow crops — depletes the soil and accelerates desertification. Additionally, migrants from the south are increasingly involved in this practice in forested areas, leading to severe deforestation, especially in the Menabe Antimena Protected Area. Preparing holes for tree lines on an agroforestry test plot. Image courtesy Roland Frédéric Tahina. Menabe’s dry forests include numerous endemic tree species, including rosewood, hazomalany (Hernandia voyronii) and baobab. The protected area is also a refuge for critically endangered species like flat-tailed tortoises (Pyxis planicauda), giant jumping rats (Hypogeomys antimena) and Madame Berthe’s mouse lemurs (Microcebus berthae). This unique ecosystem is projected to vanish by 2050, making it one of the most endangered protected areas in the country.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-madagascar-taniala-regenerative-camp-aims-to-heal-deforestation-scars/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288164</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why I quit the film industry to work on ecological restoration (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2024 18:58:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John D. Liu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/12174551/restoration-in-Spain-1-768x392.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Conservation, Desertification, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Landscape Restoration, Natural Resources, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I&#8217;ve spent a significant part of my career exploring and documenting how ecosystems function, and the profound impact humanity has on nature. Over time, I&#8217;ve come to recognize that not only is the way we treat the environment critically flawed, but so too is our current economic system. Conventional economic theories, like Keynesian economics, focus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I&#8217;ve spent a significant part of my career exploring and documenting how ecosystems function, and the profound impact humanity has on nature. Over time, I&#8217;ve come to recognize that not only is the way we treat the environment critically flawed, but so too is our current economic system. Conventional economic theories, like Keynesian economics, focus on transactions — the buying and selling of goods — as the primary measure of wealth. They insist that to prosper, societies must continually extract more resources, manufacture more products, and engage in more commercial activities — it’s all about ‘growth.’ However, there&#8217;s a fundamental problem with this approach: it overlooks the intrinsic value of nature. True wealth is not found in the commodities we trade, but in the functionality and health of our ecosystems. These provide us with “services” like clean air, water and fertile soil, which are the real foundations of our economy and very survival. Unlike the limited and often destructive traditional economic model, we must foster an economy that places higher value on natural systems and benefits all life — not just the interests of the 1%. Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss affect us all in the end. No one will be immune if we run out of soil to produce food, or clean water to drink. Ecological restoration work on Redonda Island, Antigua and Barbuda. Image courtesy of Olivier Raynaud/Environmental Awareness Group. Whose responsibility is it to make change? When I was setting up a CBS news bureau in China&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rio Tinto-linked mine still not fulfilling promises to Mongolian herders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2024 15:09:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/28143855/B-Battsengel-Lkhamdoorov-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286609</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralists in a Changing World]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, and Mongolia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Copper, Degraded Lands, Deserts, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, public lands, Rivers, Social Justice, Traditional People, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2004, nomadic herders in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert faced a daunting prospect. One of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, Oyu Tolgoi, was settling in, and herder communities were being forced to resettle without consultation. For many of them, everything fell apart that year when they faced the prospect of losing access to water and lush [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2004, nomadic herders in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert faced a daunting prospect. One of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, Oyu Tolgoi, was settling in, and herder communities were being forced to resettle without consultation. For many of them, everything fell apart that year when they faced the prospect of losing access to water and lush pasturelands. But they turned to an accountability group for help, filed two complaints against Oyu Tolgoi — and, in a rare success story, reached a deal with the mining company in 2017. Herders, local government officials and company representatives met, formed a three-party council to resolve disputes, and reached an agreement on 60 separate commitments. “It was the least we could do. The water wells and springs that the herders and animals survived on were drying right in front of our eyes after the mining operated,” says Battsengel Lkhamdoorov, one of the herders who lost his occupation and initiated the complaint. “We were not consulted before the mining operation and impacts, so we had to speak up.” But years later, experts say important commitments remain unmet. A report by the three-party council, Accountability Counsel (an NGO that advocates for communities affected by internationally funded projects) and the NGO Oyu Tolgoi Watch found that two-thirds of the commitments were either complete or in progress as of June 2020. Four years on, little has changed, they tell Mongabay. Some of the most significant commitments — on ensuring herders’ access to water, pasture and markets — are making&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286609</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In a desertscape in Brazil, science brings farms to bountiful life</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-a-desertscape-in-brazil-science-brings-farms-to-bountiful-life/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-a-desertscape-in-brazil-science-brings-farms-to-bountiful-life/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2024 10:38:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafael Martins]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/16103502/1.Ze-Capemba-1-e1717596313528-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284384</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Desertification, Dry Forests, Environment, Farming, forest degradation, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When José Rodrigues do Santos first saw the enormous canyons in Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piauí state, he didn’t imagine that he would spend the rest of his life there. He had walked some 20 kilometers (12 miles) across a red sea of desertified land from the place where he was born to arrive in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When José Rodrigues do Santos first saw the enormous canyons in Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piauí state, he didn’t imagine that he would spend the rest of his life there. He had walked some 20 kilometers (12 miles) across a red sea of desertified land from the place where he was born to arrive in the heart of Gilbués with his family. The red landscape here is like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional pocket of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise. “The land needs to be cared for, just like we do. It’s a living thing too,” says Santos, better known as Zé Capemba in these parts. He tells of the difficulties involved in working the dry soil, including having to carry water every day. But things are much better today than they were a few years ago, he says. “Our well and the technology improved our life a lot.” Gilbués is located in one of the four main geographical zones currently undergoing desertification according to the Brazilian government. All which are located in the semiarid northeast of the country, an 805-square-kilometer expanse (311-square-mile) expanse of degraded Caatinga dry forest straddling 14 municipalities in Piauí and home to some 149,000 people. Family farmer José Rodrigues do Santos, also known as Zé Capemba, outside his home in Gilbués, Piauí state. Image by Rafael Martins for Mongabay. The Gameleiro, a creek, runs through Zé Capemba’s land. Its course has been altered by the large&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-a-desertscape-in-brazil-science-brings-farms-to-bountiful-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-a-desertscape-in-brazil-science-brings-farms-to-bountiful-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284384</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uzbekistan plants a forest where a sea once lay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/uzbekistan-plants-a-forest-where-a-sea-once-lay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/uzbekistan-plants-a-forest-where-a-sea-once-lay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2024 15:38:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/29125751/7-plantation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, and Uzbekistan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Desertification, Drought, Environment, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Nature-based climate solutions, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea, once the lifeblood of peoples in both countries, is parched, shrouded in a layer of toxic salt and dust that’s now taking a heavy toll on the health and farmlands of these very communities. Since the Aral Sea, technically a lake, began shrinking in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea, once the lifeblood of peoples in both countries, is parched, shrouded in a layer of toxic salt and dust that’s now taking a heavy toll on the health and farmlands of these very communities. Since the Aral Sea, technically a lake, began shrinking in the 1960s, governments on both sides of the border led initiatives to revive tiny fractions of it. But Soviet-era dams, diverting waters feeding the sea to cotton monocultures, squelched the dream. As the Aral Sea dried out, a desert, the Aralkum, emerged and continues to expand on what used to be the lakebed. Today, the bed is caked with a thick layer of salt and of pesticide runoff that crystallized, creating a toxic cocktail of sediment on the ground. When the wind blows, this salt and dust can coat entire communities. Now, instead of trying to restore the lake, officials from the Uzbekistan Forestry Agency and locals are trying to plant a new forest where it once rested. The main purpose of the afforestation project it to curb the harmful sandstorms and improve the ecosystem by planting desert-tolerant plants like saxaul (Haloxylon ammodendron) on the lakebed. The current plan is to establish forests covering a total area of 150,000 to 200,000 hectares (371,000 to 494,000 acres) in 2024. Karakalpakstan, an Uzbek region that’s home to the Karakalpak people, is one of the most sandstorm-impacted areas in Uzbekistan. More than 300 residents of Karakalpakstan and around 150&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/uzbekistan-plants-a-forest-where-a-sea-once-lay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282631</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traditional Aboriginal fire practices can help promote plant diversity: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/traditional-aboriginal-fire-practices-can-help-promote-plant-diversity-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/traditional-aboriginal-fire-practices-can-help-promote-plant-diversity-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2024 05:51:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/13161715/Scaevola_parvifolia_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279664</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Deserts, Environment, Fires, Indigenous Peoples, Plants, Research, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For generations, Aboriginal Martu people in the northwestern deserts of Australia managed their ancestral lands and shaped their landscapes using fire. Burning small, frequent and low-intensity fires in diverse fire patterns, they promoted the growth of an array of species in what is often called “pyrodiversity.” While research is still mixed on whether pyrodiversity helps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For generations, Aboriginal Martu people in the northwestern deserts of Australia managed their ancestral lands and shaped their landscapes using fire. Burning small, frequent and low-intensity fires in diverse fire patterns, they promoted the growth of an array of species in what is often called “pyrodiversity.” While research is still mixed on whether pyrodiversity helps promote biodiversity, a recent study found evidence that pyrodiversity practices under active Indigenous stewardship can do so, drawing a reference from findings in Martu communities. These fire practices, also known as cultural burning, first began as a First Nations practice to improve the health of the land and their people. For more than 60,000 years, communities used it to manage land, plants and animals and also to hunt. According to traditional beliefs, there was a time when the Martu people didn’t have fire. It was always spotted in the distance, but when the Martu would hurry to reach it, they found nothing. “The blue-tongued lizard would hide the fire from them and they’d be cold,” Kirriwirri (Mac Gardner), a Martu elder, explained in a documentary, “but the chicken hawk stole it away and gave it to the Martu who became warm, full and fat. And so Martu life with fire begins.” Since then, Martu people, the traditional owners still stewarding this vast arid landscape, held on to their ancient fire knowledge and experience, which included knowledge of the intensity, extent and placement of fires. Their land ranges from patches that are recently burnt to those&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/traditional-aboriginal-fire-practices-can-help-promote-plant-diversity-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279664</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shining a spotlight on the wide-roaming sand cat ‘king of the desert’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shining-a-spotlight-on-the-wide-roaming-sand-cat-king-of-the-desert/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shining-a-spotlight-on-the-wide-roaming-sand-cat-king-of-the-desert/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2023 15:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petro Kotzé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/11130750/sand-cat-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276459</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, and Sahara Desert]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Desertification, Deserts, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The sand cat is small, elusive and adapted to life in some of Earth’s most inhospitable deserts — that makes it hard to study and conserve, with lots of unknowns about its behaviors and populations across its range.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The sand cat flourishes in arguably some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Felis margarita, also called the sand dune cat, is superbly adapted to the extreme heat and drought of the African Sahara, the largest desert on the planet. But while the species also inhabits a vast home range stretching across the driest parts of Southwest and Central Asia, the individual animals are nearly impossible to see by day and challenging to track by night. They rarely if ever drink water, relying on the prey they eat for the H2O they need. Their creamy striped coats blend perfectly into sand and rock landscapes. Their tiny bodies, weighing no more than six pounds, slip easily under the small bushes that shade them from scorching desert sun, or into underground burrows that hide the cats from prying eyes. Thick black fur between their toes protects paws from the burning sand. This, and strong howling desert winds, are why these nocturnal hunters leave no prints behind. Their large ears can swivel and funnel desert sounds to an exceptionally large middle ear cavity, allowing the cats to hear the faint scratching of burrowing rodents up to 600 feet away, as well as detect and evade scientists who want to radio collar and study them. A sand cat (Felis margarita ) seeks shelter in a tiny patch of shade in the Sahara Desert. Image courtesy of Alexander Sliwa. When ‘stars align’ Little is known about F. margarita. Historical records are rare, with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shining-a-spotlight-on-the-wide-roaming-sand-cat-king-of-the-desert/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276459</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Battling desertification: Bringing soil back to life in semiarid Spain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/battling-desertification-bringing-soil-back-to-life-in-semiarid-spain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/battling-desertification-bringing-soil-back-to-life-in-semiarid-spain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2023 18:53:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaime VelázquezXaume Olleros]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/11100759/3.-BANNER-As-it-protects-the-soil-with-green-covers-regenerative-agriculture-helped-Santiaga-Sanchez-farm-to-better-withstand-drought-and-runoffs-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274179</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Crops, Degraded Lands, Desertification, Drought, Extreme Weather, Farming, Fertilizers, Food, Food Industry, food security, Impact Of Climate Change, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Meet the rural farmers in southeastern Spain fighting the encroaching Sahara Desert through regenerative agriculture and landscape restoration.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LOS VÉLEZ, Spain — Much has been reported about the Sahara Desert’s inexorable shift southward into Africa’s semiarid Sahel, and of dogged efforts by local villagers to grow a Great Green Wall as a buffer against encroaching sands. But little has been written about the Sahara’s northward advance into Spain. Farmers here, though, are deeply aware of the swift changes coming to their orchards, crops and pastures, as these agricultural lands turn dryer and dryer. In 2023, these farmers endured both a record parching drought and dangerously destructive downpours — both likely intensified by global warming. In Almería, in southeasternmost Spain, rural residents continue grappling with the consequences of human-driven desertification, marked by dwindling rainfall due to a changing climate, punctuated by disastrous deluges, shrinking forests, and severe soil degradation. The lasting effects of torrential rain. Runoff washed away all the soil here, until the erosion reached down to the bedrock. Image by Xaume Olleros for Mongabay. This year, Spain suffered its worst drought in almost a century. The Los Vélez region in Almería, with average precipitation of just 400 millimeters (15.7 inches) annually, didn&#8217;t receive a single drop of rain for more than 150 days. Then, in May, more than 200 mm (7.9 in) fell in a single week. This drought-deluge cycle did serious harm to soils. In the first half of 2023, scorching sun dried up the soil, then torrential rains washed away its nutrient-rich organic matter, turning once-productive croplands into barren sand. Today, struggling groves of almond&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/battling-desertification-bringing-soil-back-to-life-in-semiarid-spain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274179</doi>				</item>
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