Agriculture

Mongolia put the world’s overlooked rangelands on the climate agenda at UNCCD COP17, where governments and investors backed new financing for land restoration, drought resilience and pastoral communities.

Jewish herbalism is experiencing a revival as educators like Naomi Spector uncover centuries of plant knowledge preserved through the diaspora. Blending the wisdom of Maimonides, Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, and remedies passed from generation to generation, this forgotten ecological heritage reveals how Jewish communities adapted to new landscapes while keeping their cultural identity rooted in the natural world.

Karl Studer occupies an unusual position in American business. As President of Quanta Services, he oversees electrical infrastructure operations across the United States, Canada, and Australia, managing thousands of employees and multibillion-dollar projects.

Mediterranean-wide platform for gender equality, resilience, and rural justice. Hosted under the institutional umbrellas of CIHEAM and the Union for the Mediterranean, the agenda appears technocratic and inclusive on paper: welcome remarks, keynote evidence on gender gaps, and a panel discussion on justice pathways in rural and agrifood contexts.

Christ’s thorn jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) also known as the sidr tree is a real, identifiable tree native to the Middle East, and it appears—directly or indirectly—in Islam, Judaism, and later Christian tradition. The connections between the three faiths are not theological agreements but overlapping uses, names, and symbolic associations rooted in the same landscape.

Beloved, fortunate, sweet, and royal; an herb with a long and storied history in Asia and across the world. Called by many names, basil has featured in previous Green Prophet articles, so enjoy another serving, a brief history of basil.

Flying centuries-old trees across continents via specialized cargo burns enormous fossil fuels. Replanting them in a desert climate—no matter how advanced the irrigation or “heritage preservation techniques”—places immense stress on organisms that evolved for Mediterranean seasons, soils, and rainfall patterns. And we've seen that the UAE is not capable of taking care of trees so survival rates are uncertain.

Sinkholes are rapidly appearing in Turkey’s central Anatolian farming region, particularly around Konya and Karapınar. These giant gaping holes in the ground in areas of farmland, known locally as obruk, are not random geological events. They are linked to prolonged drought, climate-driven heat stress, and heavy groundwater extraction for agriculture in one of the country’s most important breadbaskets.

Unconfirmed photos are circulating on the internet that a Gazan family has started to rebuild their home using mud bricks. And just a few days ago we reported on a Saudi Arabian designer and his plans for using mud bricks as a solution to the refugee crisis. 

As world leaders and billionaires descend on Riyadh for this year’s Future Investment Initiative — better known as “Davos in the Desert” — we wonder where the planet fairs in all this political business talk. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan has turned the kingdom into an unlikely global stage for innovation and investment, drawing over 20 heads of state, 50 ministers, and hundreds of financiers, tech executives, and policy shapers.

Despite mounting political opposition, growing scientific criticism and even the retreat of many former industrial supporters like Nestlé and Danone, certain member-states and supermarket chains continue to prop up Nutri-Score. The Commission must therefore remain vigilant to ensure these attempts do not undermine farmers, distort fair competition or compromise the integrity of the single market – particularly as other pressing threats loom on the horizon.

Mushrooms, microbes, and machine learning? Why does this matter? The underground networks built by fungi and bacteria are essential for healthy ecosystems—and for our ability to grow resilient crops in a changing climate. Fungi, in particular, act as “middlemen”, connecting roots across distances and helping move nutrients, water, and even chemical signals between plants.

What's that sinking feeling? In Iran, the very ground under your feet may drop away. The issue here isn’t war. The issue is land subsidence, a...

Each November, a quiet city on Italy’s Adriatic coast becomes the epicenter of the world’s circular economy conversation. What began in 1997 as a local waste management trade show has grown into Ecomondo, a global forum for environmental innovation, resource regeneration, and ecological transition.

Across the Arab world, croplands face a perfect storm of stressors. Excessive fertilizers and pesticides erode soil ecology. Poor drainage and over-irrigation drive salinization, leaving fields crusted with salt. Rising temperatures, dwindling groundwater, and more frequent sand-and-dust storms—all amplified by climate change—compound the crisis.