barron joseph orr, lead scientist for the united nations convention to combat desertification.is job is to find solutions to help the half a billion people whose livelihoods are already hard hit by desertification, and the other half a billion who are at risk. most live in south east asia, the middle east, the sahara region, and north africa. the good news -- the situation is not hopeless. let's take a look at saudi arabia. an initiative, called "the al baydha project," has developed a system for regenerating the land using flashfloods. these videos shared on social media in 2021 show what rainfall in saudi arabia can look like. but most of the valuable freshwater in the region runs off or evaporates. >> we said ok, well, if we can catch flash floods and get that water in the ground, then that becomes a sustainable source of water, eveif it's only happening, you know, every 18 months or every 20 months, or whatever. >> this is neal spackman, specialist in regenerative agriculture and former director of the al baydha project. together with the local community, neal spackman and