Europe's 'first desert' expands in southern Russia

After every summer, Svetlana Bodzhaeva makes four-hour drive on bumpy unmarked ros through steppe of Russia's sourn republic of Kalmykia to inspect damage wrought by a changing climate.

Bodzhaeva, an expert on arid land management, picks through soil and inspects shrubs planted by her team in an effort to stop spre of dunes that surround town of Bergin, populated by a few hundred people, predominately cattle ranchers.

Backed by a spate of scorching hot summer droughts, sand dunes have in recent years conquered ever more of area's steppe in what some experts call "Europe's first desert".

Pushed by winds, y frequently overtake few dirt ros leing into village, leaving locals cut off from outside world.

As Russia prepares for COP climate summit in Glasgow, its policymakers will have likes of Bergin in mind, as one of hundreds of cities and towns across country that are threatened by rising temperatures, from norrn Arctic to sourn agricultural belt.

Due to its norrn latitudes, experts say temperatures in Russia are warming at twice global average, putting many of its people on front line of world's battle against climate change.

For past five years, Bodzhayeva has been helping local herders to plant Calligonum shrubs around dunes, ir roots binding soil to withstand vance of desert.

Noneless, she says, sands in Kalmykia have more than doubled in size over past two years.

Bodzhayeva says her team has scored some successes, having stopped a dune to east of town that h been threatening to envelop it.

"This hotbed of desertification would have totally covered Bergin village in sand in a few years," she says, pointing out shrubs that now dot sandy soil.

According to Alexander Kliev, a veteran desertification expert based in Kalmykia'a capital of Elista, dunes are driven by soil erosion caused by overgrazing.

region's sizeable cattle population tramples fragile soil, leaving it vulnerable to elements and preventing plants from taking root. Cattle rearing is a tritional mainstay of local economy.

In recent years, Kliev says desertification has accelerated because of drier and hotter wear.

"Firstly, temperature conditions (are changing), this is without a doubt. amount of precipitation has drastically fallen," he says.

"And if re are rains in summer n y are short, and evaporation is very fast."

Locals point to drought that took place in summer of 2020 as worst in deces, with thousands of cattle dropping de across steppe due to a lack of food after months without rain.

"It was horrible to look at cattle, y would look for grass but re wasn't any at all," remembers Ulyumdzhi Mukabenov, a local villager who lost over half of his 25 horses in drought.

To help region's herders get through drought, regional government announced a state of emergency and secured some 562 million rubles ($7.9 million) of aid from federal government to buy feed for livestock.

Nikolai Abushinov, deputy agriculture minister of Kalmykia, said that region risked losing some 80 percent of its livestock without aid.

In end, it lost around a quarter.

When asked about ministry's strategy on climate change, Abushinov said most of its efforts were now directed at dressing consequences of climate-related disasters.

Experts say approach is indicative of that taken by Russian government as a whole toward climate change, focusing more on mitigating its effects rar than dressing its roots.

Last month, however, Russian government drafted a more aggressive decarbonization strategy that for first time set a net zero carbon emissions target by 2060.

Meanwhile, on ground in Kalmykia, local herders say y are taking more steps to stock up on feed and drive ir livestock out to pasture earlier in morning and later at night, when temperatures are lower.

Many say y are resigned to ever-hotter temperatures in future that will make ir livelihood more difficult.

Zhaksilik Mindigaliyev, 58, a senior herder in charge of some 1,000 sheep near Bergin, said he h no option but to carry on working - while preparing  for worst.

" main enemies are sand and wind and heat," he said, looking out at his herd grazing on horizon, enveloped in dust clouds.

"re has always been heat, re's no escaping it, but lately it's getting really hot in summers," he ded.