Scientists at Ben-Gurion University in Israel have made a surprising discovery: even desert soil with no living things in it can release greenhouse gases — the same kinds of gases that help heat up our planet.

The research was done by Dr. Isaac Yagle and Prof. Ilya Gelfand at the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. They wanted to know what causes the big bursts of gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and nitric oxide (NO) that happen in deserts right after it rains.

Most scientists used to think this “gas burst” only happened because of tiny living things in the soil called microbes. These microbes breathe out gases when they wake up after getting wet.

But here’s the shocker: the team collected soil from near the Dead Sea and then used strong radiation to kill almost all the living things in it. When they added water, the “dead” soil still gave off large amounts of N₂O and NO — in fact, sometimes more than the soil with living microbes! The gases came out within minutes of the soil getting wet.

The scientists say this means chemistry — not just biology — is causing these quick bursts of gases. Reactions between chemicals in the soil, like nitrogen compounds, can create greenhouse gases even without life.

For CO₂, the live soils still released more, but even the “dead” soils made some CO₂ through chemical reactions and by releasing gases already trapped in the dirt.

This is important because deserts and drylands are spreading around the world as the climate changes. Rainfall in these places is also becoming more unpredictable, so wet-dry cycles may happen more often. That could mean more greenhouse gases being released into the air than scientists had thought.

For climate science, this new research means:

• Updating emission models to include non-living (abiotic) processes in deserts and semi-arid regions.

• Reassessing the global greenhouse gas budget, since drylands already cover ~40% of Earth’s land and are expanding.

• Factoring in more frequent wet–dry cycles due to climate change, which could increase these sudden emissions.

• Recognizing deserts as more active players in atmospheric chemistry and warming than previously thought.

The team says climate models — the big computer programs used to predict future climate — need to include these “abiotic” (non-living) gas releases. If they don’t, they might underestimate how much deserts contribute to climate change.

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In a sweeping analysis of drylands across Central Asia, scientists have found that natural environmental forces—particularly declining snow levels and rising temperatures—are more responsible for desertification than human activity. The study, published in the journal Catena, was led by Professor Tao Hui of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Using nearly 40 years of satellite data, meteorological records, and socio-economic indicators, the research team mapped how desertification has unfolded between 1982 and 2020. They applied a nonlinear Granger causality model to disentangle the impacts of climate change and human activity.

The findings are stark: “Natural factors accounted for nearly 70% of all newly desertified areas,” said Prof. Tao Hui. “In many dryland systems, snow water equivalent—the amount of water stored in snow—was the dominant ecological driver.”

Overall, 14.81% of Central Asia’s drylands showed signs of desertification during the study period. While unsustainable agriculture and overgrazing continue to degrade grasslands and arable areas, it is the shifting climate—particularly warmer winters and reduced snowmelt—that is playing the lead role in this transformation. Forests, the study notes, were primarily affected by rising temperatures rather than human encroachment.

The study is misleading by “blaming” the effect on natural processes since climate change is largely assumed to be caused by human development.

The revelation that climate is the leading culprit challenges the long-standing assumption that desertification is mainly a result of poor land use. It also complicates regional efforts to halt desert advance, which have typically focused on managing grazing and cultivation.

For countries in the Middle East, including Jordan—one of the most water-scarce nations in the world—the study serves as a climate cautionary tale. With less than 100 cubic meters of renewable water per person annually, Jordan is already facing extreme pressure on its agricultural systems. Sustainable innovations like volcanic soil enrichment may offer hope (as explored in recent efforts near Mafraq), but they must now be scaled in ways that anticipate a rapidly changing climate.

China, the factory of the world, is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, producing about 30% of global CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and industry. By comparison, the United States emits roughly 13–14%, and the European Union around 8–9% of global emissions. Worth noting that the carbon emissions of China per capita is less than that of Americans and Europeans.

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Luca Curci architects studio presents Desert City, a project proposal for a sustainable way to live in the desert. It surely beats the maze of crazy unsustainable cities we see in regions in the United Arab Emirates, save for Masdar the zero energy city outside Abu Dhabi.

The architects say that their theoretical project was born from the interpretation of borders, conceived not only as a line which divides two places but, at the same time, as a meeting point between private and public space.

In these artistic sketches the architects from Italy envision a new kind of community, one based on new characteristics and social identities, a socioeconomic model aimed to cooperation and people participation.

In our world changing it’s important to imagine new paradigms when we build communities from scratch in deserts. Luca Curci Architects give us something to chew on and dream about. Pessimists might argue that we will have no choice.

The post Imagine a new kind of sustainable city in the desert? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ancient Jewish prayers still recited today include special mention of dew in the summer and rain in the winter. Survival of Israelites back then, and of the Israelis in modern times, rests largely on how much water is available for agriculture. While Israel has answers to drought such as desalinating water, researchers in Israel’s Negev Desert look for more sustainable solutions that have been in use on the land since time immemorial.Based on techniques used by the ancient Nabateans, Prof. Pedro Berliner, director of Israel’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, is reviving effective and natural desert farming methods from 2,000 years ago.

The Nabateans settled the lands of present-day Israel, Jordan (where they built the glorious pink city of Petra), Saudi Arabia and Syria. Berliner believes that their system for making the most of rare desert rain, when put into a modern framework, could save people in developing countries from desertification, drought and famine. His updated technique is already in use worldwide.

Prof. Pedro Berliner at Wadi Mashash, one of the areas in the Negev Desert using the updated ancient system for conserving floodwater.

Altering the ecosystem

The Nabatean approach altered the ecosystem of the land by collecting and channeling floodwaters through desert canals to provide food, firewood and fodder for animals.

“They developed their system and it was copied westward during the Byzantine Empire,” says Berliner. “In the end a very large part of North Africa was being cultivated using this technique, which is still seen today in Tunisia.”

Berliner’s contemporary version, the runoff agroforestry system, involves planting rows of trees with crops in between the rows that help prevent floodwater from evaporating. Adding legume plants provides composted leaves that are an excellent fertilizer for the crops in between the trees.

People under threat of desertification can use this sustainable method to ensure they can produce grain, fodder from the leaves of the trees for grazing animals, and firewood using the branches.

An entire community can be built around winter rain runoff, as Berliner explains when he travels around the world showing researchers and farmers in countries such as Kenya, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India and Mexico how they can fight against desertification looking to Mother Nature, the way the Nabateans did.

“It’s difficult to assess where this is being used today because it is a technique that can be used by any farmer,” he says. “It’s one of the techniques to combat dry lands in developing countries. They don’t need to build a pipeline for the water.”

Sustainable, simple, low energy solution

In Israel, the runoff agroforestry system is currently being used by Bedouins to farm olive groves and in Wadi Mashash, the desert research farm maintained by Ben Gurion University, where Berliner does his field work.

Desertification – the encroachment of non-arable land into areas once suitable for farming and grazing — is expected to get worse as the effects of global warming intensify. As the planet’s population increases, so does the need for wood for fuel and land for grazing, two more factors that greatly increase desertification.

Winter flood runoff techniques helped the Nabateans survive and protect their trade routes — they specialized in transporting perfumes and spices from Saudi Arabia via camel caravans through to the Gaza port — until they were conquered by the more powerful Romans. But their legacy in water on the land of Israel lives on.

The post Ancient Nabatean Wisdom to Push Back Desertification Today appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel has introduced several environmental protections in the last few years, but many problems remain.  Although massive social protests swept Israel over the summer, environmental issues were not at the fore.  So who is paying attention?  Dr. Alon Tal, a lawyer, is a professor in the School of Desert Studies at Ben Gurion University.  He has been active in Israel’s environmental movement for more than two decades.  Dr. Tal founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense.  He is co-chairman of the Green Movement, Israel’s Green Party, which is projected to win 3 seats in the next Knesset election.  Currently on sabbatical at Stanford University, Dr. Tal is writing a book about Israeli forestry policy. We caught up with him to discuss what the Israeli government has – and hasn’t – done to prioritize environmental protections.

Joshua: What are the greatest threats to the environment in Israel right now?

Dr. Tal: To begin with, I believe that it’s important that we think systematically about Israel’s environmental problems and distinguish between symptoms and causes.  With regards to symptoms – there are three key threats that I would highlight.

First, the steady loss of open spaces continues to lead to the decimation of Israeli wildlife.  Although the country was blessed with remarkable biodiversity due to its rain gradient and location straddling three continents, nature is paying a huge price to the style and pace of land development.

Over half of the mammal populations are declining, many bird species have stopped reproducing and it is quite likely that within a decade there simply won’t be any amphibians in the wild.

Second, the public health insult from air pollution, especially in the Haifa bay, remains astonishing.  A recent study showed that there are about fifty to sixty cases of lymphatic cancer every year there when statistically there should be no more than twelve.

Breast cancer has reached an epidemic status there, as women have significantly higher rates (roughly 50%) than the national and international norm.

And if we start to consider the chronic health effects, especially among children with respiratory disease, asthma, etc., around the country, we can see that although there are some improvements in the ambient air conditions, we have far to go before the new Clean Air Law begins to deliver some real results.

Third, I think we have to realize that the Israeli environment is part of the international environment – and global trends affect it.  As the world continues to muddle in efforts to combat climate change, weather conditions in Israel are changing. Temperatures are higher; rain events are more ferocious; fires in our forests are more common and more vicious.  Israel’s present government considered climate policy and basically decided not to take responsibility and to let our short-term concerns about economics trump any long-term consideration for the planet and future generations.

In other words, Israel looked at its rising annual emissions of greenhouse gases and decided that renewable energy and energy conservation were simply not a real priority.  The policies adopted are extremely unambitious and will not lead to meaningful changes.

I expected the Jewish state to take a more principled and ethical position regarding the world’s paramount ecological challenge.  Why can’t Israel be the first carbon neutral nation and lead the world in solar energy?  [Israel’s First Prime Minister] David Ben Gurion had that kind of vision and leadership, and I miss it.

Joshua: What, if anything, did the social protest movement hope to achieve in terms of environmental protections? Did it have any success?

Dr. Tal: There was an important moment during the tumultuous summer events where we felt that an environmental message was getting through to the social protesters.  Unanimously, they opposed the legislation that circumvents the planning and building law and removes much of the procedural protection for open spaces.

They realized that flooding the housing market was not the way – as most of those homes wouldn’t be affordable anyway and that quality of life also meant quality of the environment.  The law ultimately passed, but the social movement did not buy into Netanyahu’s simplistic solutions that will ultimately benefit the construction moguls and those who can afford expensive homes.

The jury is still out but at present I’m a bit disappointed in the actual outcomes of the summer protests.  There are a few isolated achievements – say like better pay for starting policemen, but on the whole I don’t see the indicators changing and the tax system remains part of the problem.  For real change, you need a whole new perspective, which I believe that the Green Movement has put out there with its “New Green Deal” proposals.  For instance, we need to start taxing “bad things” like pollution and reducing taxes on “good things” like work.

But I think that the biggest success of the summer is in the general awareness about the importance of the “Commons”. The Green Movement has been talking about the “Commons” – the many public goods that belong to nobody and belong to everybody – for some time and warned that they have been steadily eroding in Israel.

Now we know that the public is unhappy about this trend.  This could be clean air, or it could be good public school education or beaches – but it all amounts to the same thing.  There is a role for government in ensuring that these critical public assets are not privatized and sold off to an increasingly small elite of Israeli society.

We’re not calling for Socialism.  No one wants to go back there. But there is a more equitable and responsible way to govern.  After this summer, I am confident that the public gets this message and I expect to see electoral ramifications down the road.  From the present political players I expect very little as the perspectives informing both Likud and Kadima, the two major political parties, are part of the problem and their leaders remain clueless.

Joshua: How have recent efforts such as the Samar Dunes campaign shaped attempts to preserve natural areas in Israel?

Dr. Tal: Well, it’s been a mixed record recently.  We did well in [the campaigns to save] Palmachim and Betzet beaches but appear to be losing in critical campaigns like the Jerusalem Forest and the Samar Sand Dunes.

It breaks my heart that [sand from Samar] is going to be sold off so that we can lower [development] costs by a fraction in the south of Israel for a couple of years.  It’s the last serious ecosystem of its kind left in Israel and some of those species don’t exist anywhere else on the planet.  It is just lunacy not to drive down sand from an hour or two away and leave this resource for nature and recreation.

So I think that the efforts show that although the environmental movement can change the opinion of Minister of Environment Gilad Erdan, who usually takes the right positions.  But his influence is extremely limited.  His party and its appointments consistently oppose him and more often than not we see that he simply lacks the authority or leadership needed to save these resources for the future and Israel’s environment loses as a result.  This dynamic has convinced me and many other environmentalists that only a Green Party that uses its power to ensure social and environmental justice can really lead to systemic change.

Joshua: In your book “Pollution in a Promised Land“, you chronicle Israel’s history of air and water pollution. What has Israel done recently to combat these problems?

Dr. Tal: Air pollution might get a little bit better with the implementation of the Clean Air Law which recently came into force.  The law is quite advanced and promises better local involvement, tougher standards and broader tools for regulation.  But since the 1960s there was a reasonable air pollution law which could have attained much more. So without enforcement it’s not clear that the promise of the new legislation will be achieved.  And the law will not make much difference at all for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change measures.  With regards to water pollution, we have seen improvements in sewage treatment, but still lack a real strategy for restoring our contaminated aquifers and surface waters.

Joshua: What recent developments give you hope for the movement going forward?

Dr. Tal: Well, I look forward to very successful campaigns in local elections across the country.  I believe that at the level of City Councils, the environment and social conditions are issues which engage a large segment of the public and we should see green lists succeeding even more than today where about 40 representatives in city councils are actively identified with green parties.

In the last national election, the Green Movement had only been in existence formally for four months.  We had enough votes for one seat, but unfortunately, the law says you need two.  The War in Gaza and the dynamics between Bibi and Tzipi Livni hurt us.  But today, many people come to me and tell me how much they regret not voting for us and having at least a few people in the Knesset who share their values.  I think it’s important that Israel’s green party sport a new, challenging, Zionist agenda that young people can get excited about and reinvigorate their enthusiasm for the great national project that we undertake.

Coming after the summer protest where the public is looking for a change, I believe we will join the nations of Europe and become an integral part of the political mosaic.  At that time, we can finally make environmental interests and sustainability not only the “hobby” of a conscientious Member of Knesset, but a serious part of the negotiations that take place as the society decides its priorities.  We can represent that voice which at present remains neglected.

::Alon Tal website

The post Alon Tal Paints a Picture of Israel’s Environment Wrongs and Rights (INTERVIEW) appeared first on Green Prophet.

The reality however, is that this could happen. EKON, an environmental science fiction film from the Middle East, feels like an urban legend, its trailer combines elements from the likes of The Last Man and The Day After Tomorrow.

EKON is set deep in the sands of the desert, where the remaining human survivors, clad in high-tech gadgets and with scientific know, risk venturing the storms to understand the environmental catastrophe that threatens human extinction, and find a solution.

“As they descend into the unknown, they must face a mysterious life form that holds the key to the past and the future of the planet, – the EKON.”

Currently in production, the film was developed by United Arab Emirates writer/director Mohammad Rasoul. The online teaser was produced to introduce the EKON universe to the audiences during the early development process.

Watch the trailer on EKON’s official website.

More on environment education:
University in the UAE First to Offer “Bachelor’s” Degree in Motherhood
UAE Scholars And Imams Speak Up For The Environment
The UAE Gets Its First Carbon Neutral Bus. Maybe?

The post EKON, Environmental Sci-fi Film From United Arab Emirates appeared first on Green Prophet.

I  visited Avdat this August on one of the hottest days of the year when temperatures soared well above 40 degrees. Then, atop the ruins of the ancient settlement astride the Spice Route in the Negev Highlands it was difficult to understand how a community – at its peak 12,000 people – could sustain itself on the desert mount.

Visiting the site  again in early November as part of the recent Drylands, Deserts and Desertification conference sponsored by Ben-Gurion University’s Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the key to how Nabatean, Roman and Byzantine societies survived under the spartan conditions at this UNESCO World Heritage Site became apparent: the application of indigenous knowledge, ancient wisdom that, enabled settlers to cultivate crops and herd small flocks using ingenious technologies adapted to harsh conditions.

Insight into how three civilizations maintained a community in the middle of the desert was offered by veteran desert guide Arthur du Mosch and by Blaustein Institutes professors Pedro Berliner and Hendrik Bruins.

Prof. Bruins (pictured below), a member of the Institute’s Man in the Desert department has uncovered archeological evidence — bones found at a meter depth — that when carbon dated indicates that the desert agriculture was practiced at Avdat even before the Nabateans arrived in the area.

His research suggest that rudimentary farming was undertaken as early as seven thousand years ago, in the late Neolithic period and that local pastoralists engaged in run-off agriculture including the use of fertilizers much earlier than previous believed.

Rainfall under 100 milliliters per year

The early Negev agriculturalists had created terraces to capture the runoff of the rare rains falling in this area -less than 100 milliliters annually – in quantities sufficient to create crop yields with enough surplus to be stored. Storage of water was achieved in cisterns that ancient stoneworkers had cut into boulders. They also created silos out of stone that were used to keep grains, grapes and other crops.

The Nabateans, nomads who originated in the Arabian peninsula first settled at Avdat in the first century before the Common Era. The Nabateans dedicated the settlement in honor of their king-diety, Obodas who then reigned at the heart of the Nabatean civilization at Petra, in today’s Jordan.

The Nabateans were guides and traders with ties to commercial outposts in India, Africa and throughout Arabia where they dealt in perfumes and spices. According to guide du Mosch they traversed the desert in camel trains consisting of 400-800 camels per caravan with each animal carrying a fortune in spices 25-30 kilometers per day on journeys lasting between 40 to 60 days. Their routes passed through Damascus, proceeded to Mecca, onward to Petra, then to Avdat and onto Gaza where their wares were shipped to markets in Europe.

Knowledge of desert conditions

What enabled the Nabateans to prosper in the stark arid conditions was their knowledge of topography, water sources and the biology of their main technology, the camels. So well calibrated was their knowledge of conditions and resource use that they were able to cultivate grains, grapes, chickpeas, olives, lemon and pistachios and even produce wines coveted across the Mediterranean.

Hadrian, the Roman emperor consolidated Avdat into the empire in 106 CE and it became a military outpost attached to a reduced settlement; its Nabatean origins were eclipsed. The Roman influence on the architecture on the mount is found even in its ruins where arches, courtyards, altars and pillars once stood. Wine culture peaked at that time. An earthquake heavily damaged Avdat in the fourth century but the settlement was revived by the Byzantines in the sixth century. Remainders of the Christianization of the site is evidence by several churches consecrated in the area where Roman pagan rituals were carried out on alters in porticos on the mountain peak.

An intimate knowledge of place

In its urban functions the residents practiced strict hygiene in all  public places and violation of sanitation laws resulted in fines and even expulsion. Water in cisterns and jugs was guarded against infestation and plazas, alleyways, roofs were scrupulously maintained.

The skillful husbandry of scarce resources was a major reason that settlement could endure at Avdat. What is striking is that a high level of self-sufficiency existed under grueling arid conditions in an area where buildings were destroyed several times by earthquakes.

Prof. Berliner, the Blaustein Institute’s current director  stressed the ingenuity of the various settlers who inhabited Avdat. Their knowledge of the local hydrology, morphology, vegetation and soil physics was particularly astute. The central Negev receives its rainfall  in heavy, sudden downpours known as convective rains. Most of this quantity is immediately evaporated by the desert heat. The intensity of the rain is such that the local soil is compositionally unable to absorb the quantity that falls, which results in runoff.  The limited amount of rain that is held by the soil is contained by a thin crust that holds enough water to sustain certain vegetation. The rest, the runoff, must be “harvested” and held in terraces cut into the sides and on the floors of the neighboring wadis.

The past has keys to the future

What Prof. Berliner communicated to the crowd of desert and drylands specialists from around the world who participated at the BGU conference was that the Avdat agriculturalists had figured out how much water the soils could hold and realized that if they captured the surplus runoff in terraces and small dams on the desert floor and slopes, they could cultivate crops, feed herds of small animals and live comfortably in stone desert dwellings.

At a time when identifying sustainable practices will be needed to deal with dwindling and degraded resources stocks, Prof. Berliner’s message that “the past has keys to the future,” bears ample retelling.

Photos by the author Dr. Yosef Gotlieb

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