If you spend enough time on the “educational” side of Youtube, you will come across short documentaries that talk about projects aimed at stopping desertification and climate change. One example is the green wall of trees, that multiple sub-saharan countries want to plant in order to stop the sahara from spreading. Another example are the plans to turn parts of the australian outback in to humid land by planting trees and building dams. My question is: Is there even enough fresh water to sustain all of those projects? Could you theoretically turn all deserts into humid forests?
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I don’t think that’s a useful way to think about it. Fresh and salt water aren’t two different things that remain separate all of the time. If you look at the water cycle a lot of fresh water will end up in the ocean. And a lot of salt water from the ocean will turn into fresh water when it evaporates and rains down over land. So in the end it’s about implementing a micro climate where there’s enough water to sustain the vegetation. As for the green wall that means stopping soil degradation, as degraded soil tends to lose a lot more water to evaporation than plant covered soil.
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