Chinese women lay hay in a grid to prevent the sand from floating with the wind in the desert of Baijitan Conservation Area on July 17, near Yinchuan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. The women will then try to push back the sand by planting bushes. Almost 800 million hectares of farmland have been turning into desert over the past few decades; many people including the government have been trying to reverse this trend.

An elderly Chinese woman holds a hand fan while sitting outside her home in a Hutong, or a traditional alleyway in Beijing, Thursday, July 15.

Members of an Indian farming family plough a field in preparation for sowing cotton seeds in Kayla village some 70 km from Ahmedabad on July 19. The family previously used three bullock to plough their agricultural land but owing to crop uncertainty related to less predictable rains, and the price of the animal now between 25,000 and 40,000 Indian rupees (530-850 USD) a piece, the farming family says buying and mainting them is no longer affordable.