Groundwater is the most ubiquitous source of liquid freshwater globally, yet its role in supporting diverse ecosystems is rarely acknowledged^1,2. However, the location and extent of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are unknown in many geographies, and protection measures are lacking^1,3. Here, we map GDEs at high-resolution (roughly 30 m) and find them present on more than one-third of global drylands analysed, including important global biodiversity hotspots⁴. GDEs are more extensive and contiguous in landscapes dominated by pastoralism with lower rates of groundwater depletion, suggesting that many GDEs are likely to have already been lost due to water and land use practices. Nevertheless, 53% of GDEs exist within regions showing declining groundwater trends, which highlights the urgent need to protect GDEs from the threat of groundwater depletion. However, we found that only 21% of GDEs exist on protected lands or in jurisdictions with sustainable groundwater management policies, invoking a call to action to protect these vital ecosystems. Furthermore, we examine the linkage of GDEs with cultural and socio-economic factors in the Greater Sahel region, where GDEs play an essential role in supporting biodiversity and rural livelihoods, to explore other means for protection of GDEs in politically unstable regions. Our GDE map provides critical information for prioritizing and developing policies and protection mechanisms across various local, regional or international scales to safeguard these important ecosystems and the societies dependent on them.

Quinoa is recognized as a crop of great value in terms of tolerance to abiotic stresses and there is growing interest to introduce it in marginal agricultural production systems worldwide. Also, quinoa is one of the most nutritious food crops currently known and the nutritive properties of the crop are seen as a means to fight malnutrition globally. Various quinoa cultivars have been screened for tolerance to salinity, water-use efficiency and nutritional quality and the positive attributes found in them have created even wider global interest in its cultivation. This paper summarizes 15 years of studies on assessing the potential for introducing the crop in a few countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Central Asia regions and describes the key constraints for scaling-up the production under marginal growing conditions in the newly introduced countries.

A field experiment was conducted during two consecutive growing seasons (2013 and 2014) to evaluate the effects of inoculations with Rhizobium and Azotobacter on the growth and yield of two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties under saline (5.8 dS m⁻¹) arid condition. The single treatment of either Rhizobium or Azotobacter exhibited to promote the growth of chickpea to some level, however, co-inoculation produced more effects and increased the shoot dry weight (30.3 and 26.4%), root dry weight (17.5 and 26.3%), nodule number (79.1 and 43.8 piece per plant), nitrogen content in roots (9.62 and 10.9%), in shoots (12.6 and 8.3%) and seed protein (7.1 and 4.3%) in both Flip06-102 and Uzbekistan-32 chickpea varieties compared to the control. Our studies showed that the highest yield response of 429 (27.9%) and 538 (23.9%) kg ha⁻¹ over the control was revealed by the co-inoculation with Rhizobium and Azotobacter inoculants in Flip 06-102 and Uzbekistan-32, respectively. A new introduced Flip 06-102 chickpea variety was more salt tolerant and had higher root nodulation than the local Uzbekistan-32 chickpea variety. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents in the shoots and roots were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the co-inoculated treatment, while plant sodium (Na+) concentration was the lowest for both chickpea varieties exhibiting co-inoculation alleviated the detrimental effects of salinity. Therefore, the co-inoculation of Rhizobium plus Azotobacter could be applied to improve the vegetative growth and yield of chickpea and to alleviate the effects of salt stress.

Most irrigated lands in the Republic of Kazakhstan are in its southern part, in the large deltas and ancient alluvial plains in the basins of the rivers Syr Darya and Ili. The combination of climatic features and anthropogenic pressures leads to increased salinity and contamination of cultivated soils in this region, resulting in a qualitative and quantitative decline in crop production. The study’s primary goal was to assess soil secondary salinity and selected heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni and Cu) contamination in irrigated arable soils. To identify the potential source of soil pollution, we compared the concentration of salt and heavy metals (both total and mobile forms) in different soil types in three depths of soil profiles obtained from irrigated cultivated and non-cultivated (abounded) territory in the Shauldara massif in the southern part of Kazakhstan. All studied soils are prone to secondary salinization with either a medium or high content of sum of salts with domination by Na⁺ among cations and by SO₄²⁻ among anions. The soil contamination with heavy metals was low, and, in most cases, except for cadmium, it was below the limits developed for arable soils in most countries. Soil contamination with cadmium results from contamination of the water used for irrigation of farmland.

Middle Asia is submitted to arid and semiarid cold winter Mediterranean climate with lower precipitation variability than in other Mediterranean regions. It harbors the Irano-Turanian flora closely related to the Mediterranean basin. It encloses the newly independent countries (i.e., Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan) that had to produce their own food and feed within their national territory after the Soviet system breakup in 1991. Rangelands cover most of these countries (80–95% of total agricultural areas) with little arable land (5–20%) and permanent crops (0.1–2.9%), the last two being mostly irrigated, except in Kazakhstan. After 1991, Middle Asian agriculture deteriorated due to disorganization and ensuing slow reform generating a breakdown in farming practices, fertilizer use, and crop yield until 1995–1997, and then picking up again. This revival was achieved by reassigning cotton- and rice-irrigated land to irrigated wheat cropping, and also to rainfed cereal cropping competing for the best rangelands, except for Kazakhstan. As a result, rainfed barley feed dropped radically, impacting the small ruminant population forcibly fed on meager rangelands. Furthermore, forage production collapsed too and with supplementary feeding disappearing, the small ruminants population shrunk dramatically in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. It remained stable in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, hence increasing grazing pressure on all rangelands. With range yields averaging 180 kgDM ha⁻¹a⁻¹ in Karakum and Kyzylkum under 100–150 mm precipitation and currently practiced stocking rates (about 5 ha Sheep Equivalent⁻¹), range use factors appear to exceed 100%, indicating potential desertization. Rangeland poor condition is confirmed by the low Rain Use Efficiency of 1.3 kg DM ha⁻¹ a⁻¹ mm⁻¹. This unrestrained combination of escalating pressure for food on agricultural land and for feed on rangelands leads to slow catastrophic desertization as observed in North Africa and the Middle East.