Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali on farming in one of the harshest environments on Earth | Summit 2026

Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali is a Sahrawi farmer and artist, and the Young Climate Visionary winner of The World Around’s Young Climate Prize Cycle 02. Ali’s project, The Nomad Garden, is located in Algeria’s Smara refugee camp, where the arid climate has forced Sahrawi refugees to depend on humanitarian aid for their sustenance. As rising temperatures exacerbate the strain on life in this harsh environment, Ali is using his garden to experiment with alternative approaches to desert agriculture — including “sandponic” and hydroponic systems — as potential solutions to growing food insecurity within his community. But Ali hopes that the project doesn’t remain a singular oasis: The Nomad Garden is also the subject of a film that Ali made to encourage more Sahrawi refugees to cultivate their own produce as a path towards the group’s eventual self-reliance. Through the Young Climate Prize, Ali developed his project with mentorship from Brendan McGetrick, creative director of the Museum of the Future in Dubai. This presentation was recorded at The World Around Summit 2026, a full-day program dedicated to Architecture’s Now, Near & Next. Taking place at The Museum of Modern Art, the program was co-organized by Beatrice Galilee, founder and executive director of The World Around, and Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art.