Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

Rain and Water Harvesting Techniques Contribute to Return of Saharan Water Levels

After decades of drought, water is coming back to the southern edge of the Sahara, with well levels rising more than 13 feet in some parts of the Sahel and Lake Chad beginning to recover. It’s not just rainfall driving the shift.

Ancient water-harvesting techniques and Great Green Wall plantings are contributing to the shift. Built on land-restoration work pioneered by agronomist Tony Rinaudo in Niger, these activities are helping the land hold onto water it used to lose almost as fast as it fell. Rinaudo talks through that discovery himself in his 2022 GBH Forum Network talk.

“Grandpa Oyster” Proves Patience Pays Off When It Comes to Nature-Based Climate Solutions

In 1989, convinced that a dying upstream watershed was killing his oysters downstream, “Grandpa Oyster” Shigeatsu Hatakeyama began planting trees in the mountains above Japan’s Kesennuma Bay.

He was right and his efforts paid off. Nutrients carried down from the reforested slopes revived the phytoplankton his oysters fed on. When a 2011 tsunami wiped out his farm, the bay, fed by the forest he rebuilt decades earlier, helped the water recover quickly enough that he was able to maintain his farming business.

Join Our Emergent Learning Community for Jim Laurie’s Upcoming Course: Saving the Mother Trees

Forests are often described as collections of trees. But beneath every thriving forest lies an intricate living network connecting fungi, animals, wetlands, grasslands, and the oldest trees, the “mother trees” that help sustain life around them. Together, they form communities that store water, cycle nutrients, support biodiversity, and strengthen ecosystems that regulate the climate.

In Saving the Mother Trees, restoration biologist Jim Laurie takes us beyond the familiar story of forests to explore the remarkable partnerships that make healthy ecosystems possible. Drawing on ecological science alongside the knowledge of Indigenous peoples, he reveals how cooperation, not competition, is one of nature’s greatest strengths, and what that means for restoring damaged landscapes today.

You’ll discover why fungi are essential partners rather than hidden organisms beneath our feet, how wildlife helps forests regenerate, why wetlands and grasslands are inseparable from forest health, and how Indigenous communities have long understood these connections. Together, these perspectives offer a hopeful, practical vision for ecological restoration that works with nature instead of against it.

Join us and discover how the wisdom of fungi, animals, Indigenous peoples, and mother trees can inspire a new path toward restoring our forests and ourselves.

Jim’s class will use the following books. Order your copies from the Bio4Climate Bookshop storefront, where 10% of sales are returned to Bio4Climate to support our ongoing work.

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake

When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World, by Suzanne Simard

Help Village Family Farms Save Youth Summer Camp

On July 27, Village Family Farms had to shut down their STEAM Agricultural Summer Camp when one of their sponsoring organizations lost their funding.

This 8-week summer camp provided more than 20 kids ages 5-17 with day-long educational and recreational programs that:

• Teach them how to grow food using regenerative agricultural practices
• Deepen their knowledge in nutrition and soil health
• Provide experiences in nature through farming, forestry and conservation programs
• Engage them in activities, games and sports that develop building blocks for wellness and success

The farm partners with five organizations, including Bio4Climate, to provide educational programming. We customized our Soil to Sky Curriculum to their summer camp program to educate participants in soil health, plant biology, the water cycle, the value of biodiversity and ecosystems, and the mechanisms in nature that cool the temperatures and stabilize the climate.

Village Family Farms needs funding to pay instructors, provide stipends to youth leaders, provide transportation to the camp’s activities and field trips, purchase supplies, provide lunches and healthy snacks, and host an end-of-summer family event to celebrate the youth’s participation and achievements.

Help us raise the funds needed to restart the summer camp and continue these valuable programs for the kids! We encourage you to share on social media and with your friends, family, and other networks.

The GoFundMe link below was created by Bio4Climate’s Louise Mitchell. All money raised goes directly to Village Family Farms and is tax-deductible.

Beavers Bring Water and Life Back to Alma, Colorado

This week, Bio4Climate Board Member Sue Farist Butler shares firsthand how beavers, habitat protection, and thoughtful community restoration are helping rehydrate the landscape, support wildlife, and create a vibrant nature park in Alma, Colorado.

A newly built beaver dam has raised the water level by three feet, restoring a stream that had gradually filled with grasses. The revived waterway now supports brown and rainbow trout, while a new beaver lodge is taking shape downstream.

The town has protected this habitat as part of a beautiful nature park, where local children learn along the banks of the river. In this fire-prone landscape, beavers are helping keep the valley moist, healthy, and full of life.