In Santiago del Estero, one of the Argentine provinces hit hardest by deforestation and desertification, an oasis of native tree species is being created to restore the soil and entice back farmers who were forced to leave their land.

NAIROBI, Feb 4 (IPS) - The droughts in the Turkana region were less severe when she was growing up, says Laura Letapalel, and pastoralists could still find some grass and water for their animals. Now, she laments, the droughts are longer and there is nothing to eat.

BAMAKO, Jan 16 (IPS) - Mohamed Abd Khibé is a caretaker at the acacia nursery in Dialoubé village, part of a project to sequester carbon in trees while simultaneously improving farmers' livelihoods.

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (IPS) - Future firefighters have their work cut out for them. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds, and record high temperatures set the stage for the worst wildfire in the country's history.

BERLIN, Nov 18 (IPS) - Africa, the continent already most affected by hunger and food scarcity, is likely to see its woes increased due to climate change and the changing rain patterns it provokes, experts and scientists say.

WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (IPS) - Our early twenty-first century civilisation is being squeezed between advancing deserts and rising seas.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 6 (Tierramérica) - "The entire social fabric of an area is compromised when soils are depleted," says Italian expert Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Oct 2 (IPS) - Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more starving people will be part of humanity's grim future without concerted action on climate change and new investments in agriculture, experts reported this week.

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 30 (IPS) - Climate change aggravates soil degradation, but sustainable use of land resources can, in turn, mitigate global warming, according to participants at the United Nations conference on desertification in the Argentine capital.

WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted.

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 24 (IPS) - Understanding desertification as a macroeconomic problem, with financial, productive, environmental and civil society aspects, is a major concern for Christian Mersmann, the managing director of the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 18 (IPS) - "Desertification is the cancer of the earth," Argentine geographer Elena Abraham told IPS. "It is a process of degradation that does not manifest itself in spectacular ways but furtively advances, and by the time it is visible there is nothing to be done, and people have to move away, in search of an alternative."

BAMAKO, Sep 15 (IPS) - Cars and motorcycles are stuck because of the heavy rains that have drenched Mali’s capital for the past few days. It is late afternoon and the water, mud and damaged fruit from nearby stalls make the journey for those heading home to celebrate Ramadan even more treacherous.

NOVA RUSSAS, Brazil, Jul 22 (Tierramérica) - The rain - usually much desired because it is so scarce - has come in excess this year, destroying many crops. But in this farming district in far north-eastern Brazil, the impact of the heavy rainfall was less marked than in the past, thanks to the diversification of crops and productive activities.

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Sep 15 (Tierramérica) - The battle against the wood pulp ndustry has intensified in the Brazilian courts, especially in those states where eucalyptus plantations have expanded the most: Bahia and Espírito Santo in the east and Rio Grande do Sul in the south.

BONN, Aug 19 (IPS) - Luc Gnacadja, who took over as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) last October, is a man with a mission - a mission that goes beyond explaining that his job is not to battle deserts.