Despite two weeks of U.N.-sponsored talks in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, the participating 197 nations failed to agree on a plan to deal with global droughts, made longer and more severe by a warming climate.

Politicians and experts are meeting in Madrid to mark World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

Efforts to restore damaged but once fertile land in Jordan’s desert are sprouting hope for one of the world’s most water-scarce nations, as a land assessment report Wednesday warned about the effects of degradation.