As drought, climate change pressure El Paso water supply, farmers innovate to sustain orchards in one of nation's biggest pecan-growing hubs

The effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and hotter global temperatures, are already having drastic impact on many communities, especially the rural, agricultural regions of countries such as Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Mozambique. Earthrise explores how people in these communities are learning new skills, implementing new techniques, and are striving in every way possible to adapt to these environmental changes while creating hope for sustainable growth in the future.

Solar-powered irrigation allows women in Gella to farm during the dry season, enabling multiple harvests per year that provide food security, income, and social connection while increasing women's economic agency in a post-conflict community.

Climate change has led to shorter, more violent rainy seasons in the highlands around Lima, Peru, meaning that - even though there is theoretically enough water during the rainy season to sustain the local population, it flows downhill too quickly, leaving residents short of clean water during the dry season. Now, an organization called Condesan is helping the community to restore ancient stone canals from the seventh century that will help to store water from rainfall through the dry season and supply residents with a steady water source.

In Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council was formed after a severe drought to bring together federal, state and regional governments and bridge parochial concerns. It was meant to manage the basin as a whole and end overuse and salinization of farm land, leveraging new technologies to adapt to new realities.

An AI-powered underwater sensor system developed by KMFRI and ShoShin Innovation Hub detects dangerous drops in dissolved oxygen in Lake Victoria and sends SMS alerts to fish farmers. This enabled them to move their cages in time and successfully averting a mass fish kill in February 2026 that would have threatened hundreds of tilapia cages at Dunga Beach.

New solar-powered irrigation systems in the Chotanagpur Plateau region in India are giving farmers more dependable water and allowing them to diversify their crops, allowing them to also grow their income. Many farmers from a local village used to migrate to other places to search for work, but a new irrigation system has allowed them to grow cauliflower for a competitive price. While the cost of buying and installing a solar-powered irrigation system can be high, this form of irrigation could be more climate-friendly and help stabilize crop production.

Toxic green algae has become a prominent threat in Lake Erie, but local farmers are trying to reduce their footprint by limiting agricultural nutrient runoff from manure and fertilizer that is spread on their farm fields. From increasing transparency around agriculture practices to altering how fertilizer is distributed, early signs are showing success with these measures despite there still being a long ways to go.

Not all solutions have to be new in order to work, some just have to be modernized for today's needs. This was the lesson learned when villagers in Peru decided to restore centuries-old hydraulic systems to revitalize their depleting wetlands.

While climate change continues to complicate the realities of creating seasonal viable crops, farmers in Malawi are adopting conservation agriculture in at attempt to salvage what they can from their crops. Through a variety of "climate change resilience farming methods," local farmers have seen an increase in their crops' resiliency.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.