Desert
Knowledge
An ode to desert civilisations
Thar·Sahara·Atacama
“Every desert in the world hides an orchard, for those who know how to look at the earth, read the slope, listen to the silence of plants.”
Adapting to aridity in a warming world
The book opens with crossed knowledge: that of farmers and that of agronomy. Understanding soil, knowing the rain, growing with little water. A first part built with an agronomist's eye, linking ancient gestures to today's challenges.
With rising temperatures and ever less predictable rain, the knowledge of desert communities takes on new importance. These are not relics of the past; they are living knowledge.
A journey to four corners of the planet
Field researchers travelled to meet communities, including Indigenous communities, who agreed to share their knowledge: water, seed, rain and soil.
Thar Desert
India · Rajasthan · Barmer district
Archana Gavas travelled through the villages of Barmer district. She gathered ways of reading the signs of rain, keeping ponds and wells alive, and storing seed in earthen chambers.
“The desi seed knows this land. The hybrid does not. […] Our seeds have survived every akaal (famine) we have had.”
A seed keeper from Naraniyon Ki DhaniReading nature, not instruments
The flowering of the khejri, the call of the papeeha, the peacock's dance, the wind: in Barmer, rain announces itself in the landscape.
Sahara
Mauritania · Trarza · Senegal River
Amadou Hamadi Diallo returned to the Senegal River valley of his childhood to listen to the farmers of Trarza: rice, sorghum, cowpea, and the stars that announce the rain.
“Patience. Without patience, nothing is possible.”
Alyoun Abdelahi Alyagui, asked about the small techniques outsiders don't know
“When you see three stars near the moon, it is a sign that rain will come soon.”
Hamat Alassane Ba, farmer in Tounguen
Sahara
Morocco · TaliouineKhadija Ait Si Mhand is meeting the communities of Algou, near Taliouine.
Fieldwork in progressAtacama Desert
ChileThe book's last journey will lead to the high plateaus of the Atacama, one of the driest deserts on Earth.
Coming soonVoices from the field
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“Rain, without landmarks, finds its way thanks to the earth that shows it the path.” Sahelian proverb