Oases in the desert: The farmers regenerating the landscape in southern Spain

Rain drums on the roof of the bunkhouse at Camp Altiplano, a five-hectare ecosystem restoration project in the high plains of Murcía in south-eastern Spain. A group of mud-soaked volunteers huddle round the stove, cold red hands outstretched. They are back from an afternoon planting tree saplings of oak, juniper and pine. With heavy cloud overhead, the solar powered showers are out of bounds, but the wet March weather is something to celebrate explains Camp Coordinator, Silvia Quarta. ‘This is the first rainfall we’ve seen since November,’ she says. Every drop is precious: not only will it nurture the newly planted trees, but as much as possible will be collected and stored to be used in the coming dry months of late spring and summer.

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