Ben-Gurion University's Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change brings more than 190 researchers together to tackle dryland challenges, including agriculture, water scarcity, energy and climate policy. Its work connects research with government training, international cooperation and programs for Israeli students. The war, however, has made some international partners more hesitant to collaborate with or visit Israel.
Research for Dryland Challenges
The school brings together research in engineering, medicine, literature, social work, agriculture, energy, water studies and geography. Prof. Shimon Rachmilevitch, the school's head, said progress depends on collaboration across fields. “In order to tackle these topics – climate, desertification, sustainability – we must work in an interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary, manner,” he said. “Only when you work together can you really get answers.”
The school draws on five decades of dryland research at Ben-Gurion University. One project led by Rachmilevitch's team focuses on sweet potatoes and their roots, which he calls the “hidden herb” of agriculture. The team has found ways to raise yields by at least 50%. Researchers are also working to make the crop easier to harvest and improve its nutritional profile. They're studying who has historically eaten it, too, and turning findings into practical applications and policy recommendations. Medical researchers, food anthropologists and policy experts are involved.
Other projects focus on agricultural emissions and scarce resources. Researchers are studying ways to reshape dairy cattle's gut microbiome and cut methane emissions by as much as 20% to 30%. Another project turns urine into fertilizer. “Water and nitrogen scarcity are the two limiting factors for agriculture in dry regions,” Rachmilevitch said.
Training and International Cooperation
Ben-Gurion is the only university that sends a committee each year to the United Nations' climate conference, COP. It also broadcasts live from the summit to roughly 5,000 Israeli high school students. That involvement led to the Youth Climate Conference, which BGU created in 2025 and runs with the Education Ministry. Each year, 40 schools are selected to present sustainability projects. BGU mentors the students before they present their work to the president of Israel at his climate forum. The school also offers an annual stipend for the best environmental high school thesis.
The university works with the Health Ministry and the Heschel Center for Sustainability to train senior officials in climate management. It sends participants to Europe to study international models. Its public climate-data platform, ipcc.bgu.ac.il, offers interactive graphs that track temperature, wildfire activity and other climate indicators.
BGU's Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research hosts the professor who serves as Israel's official point of contact to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The school and the Foreign Affairs Ministry lead Israel's delegation to related international conferences, including one in Mongolia in August. The biennial Drylands, Deserts and Desertification conference, which the school runs jointly with the convention, draws roughly 1,000 participants from around the world.
Partnerships Amid the War
The school's National Institute for Climate and Environmental Policy maintains working relationships with Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Cyprus. Its high school climate conference model has gone to Kenya, and Malawi is under consideration. “We still haven't given up hope” on cooperation with Israel's Arab neighbors, Rachmilevitch said, pointing to partnerships with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
The war has diverted budgets, Rachmilevitch said, and made some international partners more hesitant to collaborate with or visit Israel. BGU's academic reputation helps it keep attracting partners. “I feel that we have established a significant reputation as an academic institution, so it lowers the effect” of the political situation on the university's international efforts.
Michael Sonnenfeldt committed $1 million annually for 20 years, helping draw further government and international investment. Rachmilevitch said the university's research prepares for challenges that could spread beyond dryland regions: “Because of the research we are doing today, when desertification and climate change become an imminent challenge, we will be ready. We are preparing here now for what may happen in France in 10 years.”
The article was written in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post's Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School; the Jerusalem Post maintains editorial decisions related to the content.