# Could humanity reclaim the Sahara if we chose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880 "2005-03-30T03:04:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/1 "2005-03-30T03:04:22Z")
So I’m reading Larry Gonick’s _History of the Universe Book III_ and there’s a section in which he mentions the grasslands of northern Africa millenia ago long before the sahara took over. And I get to thinking…that’s a worthy project for humanity if we could get behind it. The reclamation of northern Africa from the desert. A conversion back into grassland and forest. Now, I’ve seen the Sahara. I’ve walked in it and seen the dividing line where the Nile fertile area stops and the desert takes over. It’s about as abrupt as the dividing line between ocean and land. Startling the first time you see it I promise you. So could it be done? If so what would it take? I can see trying to reclaim it through the planting of hardy grasses at the fringes alone with a lot of irrigation to keep things alive. Then follow with trees and undergrowth. And then once the trees are established they’ll begin fixing water in the area and bring rains. But could it be done with current technology (discounting political will). And how long would it take it we attempted it? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/2 "2005-03-30T03:14:01Z")
Just use salve labor like the Pharos did and you could make ribbons of fertial ground all along the banks. Make manmade reserviors in Libya to feed the tributaries. But why? Just to do it? Without a real purpose it would just be arrogance. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/3 "2005-03-30T03:41:11Z")
A better way would be to use nuclear blasts to knock open a “hole” into the Sahara from the Atlantic. Obviously, we don’t know exactly what that would do to the climate, but on average it should spread water thinly along a strip of the Sahara, improve rainfall furtehr inland drastically, and increase the rainfall of the MIddle East. In time, it might make the Sahara fertile again, and hopefully would stop its encroachment on the south side of the Africa coast. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/4 "2005-03-30T03:50:13Z")
At the cost of not being able to do much to the rest of the earth - yes. Build a couple hundred power houses along the Med that are dedicated to nothing but desalizanition. Pump the water inland in stages. The heat and low humidity will result in a butt-load of evaporation. With a little luck (which I will use at this point in place of any knowledge of things weathery) you’ll start to get rain fall inland on a regular basis. Rain plus dirt equals (eventually) at least some sort of growth. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/5 "2005-03-30T03:53:23Z")
I don’t think you’d need desalinization plants. The water will spread evaporate and come down as rain further east. It’ll also make a nice thin sea which might eventually get to be useful for small ships for trade and trasnport. Besides, I always wanted to engineer the world’s largest canal. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/6 "2005-03-30T03:56:45Z")
There are major aquifers under the Sahara. One need not do the desalinization thing, just drill and pump. The question would be what value it would have. There are no doubt areas where there would be enough fertility to grow crops and such. But there are large areas of infertile sand, and rock deserts without soil or sand, within the Sahara. What advantage could be gained by providing them with water? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/7 "2005-03-30T03:57:37Z")
[Air wells](http://www.rexresearch.com/airwells/airwells.htm) would be your least expensive solution. The problem, of course, is what the global climate impacts of greening the Sahara would be. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/8 "2005-03-30T04:04:20Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [Air wells](http://www.rexresearch.com/airwells/airwells.htm) would be your least expensive solution. The problem, of course, is what the global climate impacts of greening the Sahara would be. Damn that’s a cool site. I’ll have to remember to throw that one out there when I want to overload them cool graphics :wally Thanks Tuckerfan! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/9 "2005-03-30T04:08:38Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > There are major aquifers under the Sahara. One need not do the desalinization thing, just drill and pump. > > The question would be what value it would have. There are no doubt areas where there would be enough fertility to grow crops and such. But there are large areas of infertile sand, and rock deserts without soil or sand, within the Sahara. What advantage could be gained by providing them with water? Well, the sand could be mixed with organic material over a period of time, and eventually become fertile. The rock, well, with water and a couple of million years, that’ll turn to sand . . . ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/10 "2005-03-30T04:10:54Z")
> [@Si Amigo](#): > > But why? Just to do it? Without a real purpose it would just be arrogance. Food. Food seems a good purpose. But the greening of the Sahara would certainly alter the climate somewhere else. How? Where? Better wait till we have a better grasp on climatic effects. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/11 "2005-03-30T04:19:55Z")
Like they could not get food somewhere else cheaper than creating a garden in Sahara? Come on, how far is Italy and Greece from the Sahara? Don’t you think that they could truck food there cheaper? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/12 "2005-03-30T04:22:35Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Food. Food seems a good purpose. > > But the greening of the Sahara would certainly alter the climate somewhere else. How? Where? Better wait till we have a better grasp on climatic effects. Screw that! I can tell you _exactly_ why we should _immediately_ begin greening the Sahara: Game preserve for cloned dinosaurs! ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/13 "2005-03-30T04:53:35Z")
Well, now that we have thier DNA from broken bone marrow you may have a point. 🆒 Personally I would rather have them graze in Montana. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/14 "2005-03-30T13:34:01Z")
> [@Si Amigo](#): > > Well, now that we have thier DNA from broken bone marrow you may have a point. 🆒 Personally I would rather have them graze in Montana. Wouldn’t the cold kill many of the dinosaurs? And besides, the gun nuts up there would shoot them all. 😉😃 ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/15 "2005-03-30T13:41:58Z")
But what about the sandworms? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/16 "2005-03-30T14:20:27Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > The water will spread evaporate and come down as rain further east. Don’t the prevailing winds in the Sahara blow from east to west? (That’s where our westbound hurricanes get their start, no?) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/17 "2005-03-30T16:20:32Z")
Generally, desertification is the result of deforestation, not the other way around. The first step would be to provide a renewable energy source for the people who live on the edges of the deserts. The second step, and largest, would be to convince those same people that their millenia-old source of heating and cooking fuel is no longer the best source. Good luck with that. I can cite a prime example of the reluctance to convert to another source, but it can’t be referenced on the web, so I hesitate to put it in GQ. Reforestation projects have been attempted with limited success in Africa. People tend to cut down the trees as soon as they are large enough to provide kindling. It’s incredibly frustrating for those in the Peace Corp and USAID. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/18 "2005-03-30T18:53:43Z")
> [@](#): > > But the greening of the Sahara would certainly alter the climate somewhere else. How? Where? Better wait till we have a better grasp on climatic effects. Actually, we do have apretty good idea of what everything looked like before it dried. The MId-East was far more fertile a few thousand years ago, which is one reason it was so popular for early civlizations. > [@](#): > > Don’t the prevailing winds in the Sahara blow from east to west? (That’s where our westbound hurricanes get their start, no?) Actually, I thought they staretd off the tip of Africa or up from the Congo basin and came all the way from there. > [@](#): > > Reforestation projects have been attempted with limited success in Africa. Oh, yeah. People’s appatetite for eating and being warm now is just not compatible, sometimes, with the desire to have happy nm-th generation descendants. Life suck sometimes. Which is why I say we need more fusion research! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/19 "2005-03-30T20:05:18Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Actually, I thought they staretd off the tip of Africa or up from the Congo basin and came all the way from there. They come from [North Africa south of the Sahara](http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A4.html). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880/20 "2005-03-30T20:06:37Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > They come from [North Africa south of the Sahara](http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A4.html). West Africa, not North Africa. And I previewed and everything… :smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-humanity-reclaim-the-sahara-if-we-chose/296880.md?page=2)