How would the plan to plant a wall of trees in Africa stop the spread of the Sahara?

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I saw on a Real Life Lore Video that there is a plan to plant a wall of trees across Africa along the southern border of the Sahara Desert. The hope is these trees will stop the spread of the desert into the semi-arid lands bellow. Why wouldn’t the desert just overtake the trees anyways?

Link to the original video: https://youtu.be/Zjy_JH1aaqU

In: Earth Science

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The conversion of land into a desert is a process that depends on more than just lack of rain.

Trees hold topsoil, which can absorb and retain moisture far better than bare rock or sand. Once the trees are gone, the topsoil soon goes with them, partly because it doesn’t have roots holding it in place and partly because wind can blow more freely. Once the topsoil is gone, nothing can grow there, so there’s no way to replace it.

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