To Re-Vegetate the Sahara...A Thought Exercise

Near Cadomin, Alberta (photo by V.A. McMillan)

 Title: To Re-Vegetate the Sahara…A Thought Exercise

Time to ponder big ideas. What if it was possible and feasible to re-vegetate the Sahara Desert? Should we pursue such an undertaking? How could it be accomplished? That is what we will explore in this post.

First, let’s have a look at the map of North Africa, shall we:

From Google Maps

The problem

We can see from this captured image from Google Maps (above) that the northern regions of the African continent are dry, hence the lack of green across most of the top of Africa. Why is that? The answer is a lack of water which plants need to grow and a temperature extreme that is hard on all living things – plants and everything else. How would you change that?

The solution

The solution is to hydrate the region, as in add water. However, I am not suggesting wasting potable drinking water from the subterranean water table. What I am suggesting is much, much simpler.

My original thought was the winds generally blow from west to east across the continent and thus, building desalination plants in Western Sahara and Mauritania (see map below) shown as red rectangles would be the first step. This would provide employment to build and operate the desalination plants and provide a source of sea salt for export to enhance the local economies. As the ocean waters evaporated from the desalination tanks the humid air would follow the air currents cooling the air over the Sahara Desert and when the condensation had reached sufficient concentrations it would rain down to the east, likely in Niger and Chad. Over time this process would increase the local humidity allowing for plants to re-establish themselves in the desert. Further down the road, this new green space would temper the local climate and reverse the desertification. Only one problem…

From Google Maps & Modified by Mountainman

The winds across Northern Africa do not traverse from west to east. In fact, according to Britannica (see maps below) the winds travel from the Mediterranean Sea for part of the year and from the South Atlantic Ocean in other parts of the year.

From Britannica

Therefore, to adapt my concept, just changes the start location. So, instead of desalination plants in Western Sahara and Mauritania, they would go along the coasts of Tunisia and Libya as indicated by the red line (see map below). Again, the evaporated water would rise up and rains would fall likely in Mali, Niger, and Chad. Regional and local wind patterns would direct the exact locations that would receive the rains. Over time vegetation would return, the local climate would be moderated, and desertification would be slowly reversed.

From Google Maps & Modified by Mountainman

The Crux

What could go wrong?? Sounds like a perfect plan. The economy in African countries is enhanced. Locals get good paying jobs and the ability to buy goods, build homes, and generally become self-sufficient. This is awesome. What could go wrong??

Global climate modification and the law of unintended consequences…if man starts playing God with the weather, even with the best intentions of helping our fellow man, what balance are we toying with? And what are the ramifications of pursuing such activities before knowing how changing the humidity in the Sahara Desert will impact the rest of the planet? I do not know the answers to these key questions, but the answers are worth finding. If solving desertification could be as easy as building desalination plants upwind of the desert so humidity can be added to the region and increase local rainfall, that would be excellent for everyone involved. However, at this time there are too many unknowns concerning tinkering with global weather patterns and releasing the daemons of Pandora’s Box.

Maybe by posting this conversation, folks much smarter than I, will find the answers.

Until next time…think deep thoughts,

Mountainman.