Eli5 Why can’t we just slowly plan trees out in the desert to turn it into a forest?

Question

Eli5 Why can’t we just slowly plan trees out in the desert to turn it into a forest?

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Answer 1

There are some efforts to reverse desertification, including hearding cattle and other livestock through the edges in order to condition the soil, but the basic problem is that deserts are deserts because the local weather doesn’t supply enough water via rain to support a lot of plants.

Simply planting trees will most likely just result in the trees dying from dehydration, though planting trees might be combined with other efforts to affect the local climate to mitigate or reverse desertification.