Geographical Magazine

If there’s a thread running through this month’s issue, it’s that the ground
(see Page 32), we follow the meltwater rivers carving ever-deeper paths
through the island’s shrinking glaciers, with every drop carrying a warning about our warming planet. Across the shifting sands of Africa’s Sahel, the Great Green Wall, once touted as a miracle of reforestation, is proving to be more of a mirage of fading hopes (see Page 23). Meanwhile, as nations look to secure their own futures, a little-noticed land rush is under way. James Rose’s investigation on Page 17 reveals how the world’s wealthiest states are snapping up farmland abroad, trading oil wealth for food security – and reshaping global power in the process.
Together, these stories remind us how quietly the world can change while our attention drifts elsewhere. Ice sheets thin, forests shrink and ownership of the land that feeds us changes hands — often before we’ve noticed what’s been lost.
It’s a reminder that the forces shaping our future rarely announce themselves; they move beneath the surface, until suddenly they don’t