Many high-mountain rivers in Asia transport more sediment downstream compared to a few years ago. Changes in sediment levels have a particularly strong impact on agriculture, water quality, flood management, and hydropower generation. A study with participation of the University of Potsdam demonstrates the interacting roles of glaciers, vegetation, precipitation, and slope in mobilizing sediment and controlling the current sediment transport in rivers. In order to counteract climate change, the authors call for a systematic approach for the entire catchment area of rivers in the high mountains.

In two recent papers, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and their collaborators found that emissions from streams are largely derived from nitrification processes in agricultural soils. Further, they found that stream emissions make up a much greater portion of the annual nitrous oxide budget than previously known.

A cutting-edge studystudy has uncovered the pivotal role of the sltrxh protein in tomatoes in managing nitrate stress—a growing challenge in modern agriculture.

The adoption of a sustainable land management practice (SLM) to manage invasive Prosopis juliflora – considered one of the world’s most threatening non-native tree species – appears to have ‘uprooted’ the problem in East Africa.

A new CABI-led study involving colleagues from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, the Tanzania Forestry Research Institute, and the University of Nairobi, Kenya, found uprooting and use of the cleared land for continuous crop and fodder production in two invaded regions of Kenya and Tanzania to be successful.

UNCCD's landmark new World Drought Atlas depicts the systemic nature of drought risks through dozens of maps, infographics, and case studies. It illustrates how drought risks are interconnected across sectors like energy, agriculture, river transport, and international trade and how they can trigger cascading effects, fueling inequalities and conflicts and threatening public health

A new study exploring traditional sunken groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems in coastal and inland sand (SGHAS) bodies of Israel, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Gaza, and the Atlantic coast of Iberia offers fresh perspectives on ancient agricultural techniques that could inform modern sustainability practices. The research, which combines geospatial analysis, archaeological findings, and historical documentation, sheds light on the innovative use of water-harvesting and soil-enrichment technologies developed in the early Islamic period and their continued relevance to contemporary agricultural challenges.

Scientists from Brazil and Spain use sensors embedded in drones and agricultural machinery, as well as satellite imagery, to predict the ideal time to harvest, reduce CO2 emissions, and manage water use in plantations; work was presented at FAPESP Week Spain.