Deserts News

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The desert rain frog. Image courtesy of Bob Steele via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Desert rain frogs threatened with extinction in southern Africa

Victoria Schneider 10 Jul 2026
A desert pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi). A genetic study caused researchers to raise an alarm over a small, unique, dry mangrove-adapted population being genetically unhealthy, putting it at risk for local extinction. Image courtesy of the Peruvian Desert Cat Project.

Genetic study reveals extinction risk for unique mangrove-adapted pampas cat

Sean Mowbray 5 Jun 2026
Jerry Jangala running a question-and-answer session out on country for participants in the workshop. Image by Anthony Ham.

Using songlines, elders codify traditional knowledge to care for Country

Anthony Ham 7 May 2026
At work in NatCarbon's spekboom nursery.

UN recognition is latest boost to restoring spekboom across South Africa’s semidesert Karoo

Joe Walsh 17 Feb 2026
The fish-eating bat has been recorded on more than 45 islands in the Gulf of California. Isla Partida Norte is home to the largest known colony of the species. Image courtesy of José Juan Flores Martínez.

Up close with Mexico’s fish-eating bats: Interview with researcher José Juan Flores Martínez

Astrid Arellano 31 Dec 2025
Soda schweinfurthii, a desert subshrub, native to arid regions from Egypt to the Arabian Peninsula.

Can we create new inland seas to lower sea level rise? Interview with researcher Amir AghaKouchak

Jeremy Hance 9 Dec 2025
Roxanne Swentzell harvesting drought-resistant corn on her garden plot in the Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico. Image courtesy of Roxanne Swentzell.

From waffle gardens to terraces, Indigenous groups revive farming heritage in America’s deserts

Justin Catanoso 18 Nov 2025
A yurt with solar panels in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

How to clean solar panels in arid areas? Waterless systems could improve efficiency

Samuel Ogunsona 24 Oct 2025
Elephants are one of the species that have bounced back after Namibia’s independence in 1990.

Climate change tests the resilience of people and desert-adapted wildlife in Namibia

Petro Kotzé 21 Aug 2025
James's flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi)

Green hydrogen development threatens wildlife in Chile

Manuel Fonseca 18 Aug 2025
Devils Hole pupfish in the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility. Photo by Olin Feuerbacher/USFWS

Devils Hole pupfish hit by micro-tsunami from 8.8-magnitude Russian earthquake

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Aug 2025
Camera-trap image of the caracal spotted in Kirthar National Park. The cat appeared only once during the span of two weeks of camera trapping.

In rare triumph, camera traps snap endangered wildcats in Pakistan

Sean Mowbray 21 Jul 2025
Sahara mustard plants in California.

In California, an invasive mustard is destabilizing desert plant communities

Maya L. Kapoor 16 Jul 2025
A seminomadic man carries water in the Cholistan Desert.

In Pakistan, desert irrigation plans spark protests & fears among Sindh farmers

Waqas Alam Angaria 28 May 2025
Banner image of quiver trees by Leonie Joubert for Mongabay.

Succulents die off with expanding desert in South Africa and Namibia

Mongabay.com 18 Apr 2025
Zozan Basin Shekho (left)and Suzan Haskani (right) show the decorations crafted from discarded plastic, giving the waste a new life and purpose.

Where war once raged in Iraq, Yezidi women plant hope

Robert Bociaga 14 Apr 2025

Scientists study plant restoration in Argentina’s deserts

Claudia Geib 17 Mar 2025
A flooded field in Lake Province, Chad, in October 2024. The Lutheran World Foundation (LWF) is working with farmers groups as part of their three year "Gender Transformative Climate Adaptation" project. Image courtesy of Marie Renaux/LWF

Lake Chad isn’t shrinking — but climate change is causing other problems

Ruth Kamnitzer 28 Feb 2025
Banner image of Agroecotettix silverheelsi from Texas courtesy of JoVonn Hill.

16 new-to-science grasshopper species found in US, Mexico deserts

Kristine Sabillo 21 Feb 2025

Science brings the bloom of farming to a Brazilian desert

Mongabay.com 24 Dec 2024
Young giraffe in Uganda. Image by Rod Waddington / Flickr.

We must prioritize rangeland conservation for planetary health and biodiversity (commentary)

Dr. Igshaan Samuels 16 Dec 2024

Study looks for success factors in African projects that heal land and help people

Ruth Kamnitzer 13 Dec 2024

Agroecology offers blueprint for resilient farming in northern Ghana

Caleb Ahinakwah 5 Dec 2024
The adult female Chinese mountain cat found by Han Xue-song in winter near her den in the Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Easy to catch, yet little known: Meet the Chinese mountain cat

Ruth Kamnitzer 18 Nov 2024
Shea butter production process near Chiana, Kassena Nankana District - Ghana. Image by Axel Fassio/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Local NGO RAINS brings relief to Ghana’s semiarid north with regenerative farming

Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda 16 Oct 2024
A group photo after practical training on market gardening and forest garden maintenance in agroforestry at the regenerative camp. Image by Roland Frédéric Tahina.

In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars

Mino Rakotovao 3 Oct 2024

High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, but is that good news?

Mike DiGirolamo, Rachel Donald 1 Oct 2024
Before and after of a restoration project in Spain. Image courtesy of AlVelAl.

Why I quit the film industry to work on ecological restoration (commentary)

John D. Liu 12 Sep 2024
Battsengel Lkhamdoorov stands next to one of the summer quarters built by Oyu Tolgoi.

Rio Tinto-linked mine still not fulfilling promises to Mongolian herders

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 28 Aug 2024

Six new natural sites added to UNESCO World Heritage List

Shreya Dasgupta 2 Aug 2024

In a desertscape in Brazil, science brings farms to bountiful life

Rafael Martins 16 Jul 2024
Local and International organizations participated in the plantation.

Uzbekistan plants a forest where a sea once lay

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 29 May 2024

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