A 2007 report put out by the United Nations stated that almost one third of the world’s population, roughly 2 billion people, are in danger of becoming victims of desertification. The process, which is creeping across North Africa, takes place when the movement of sands displaces people and forces them to uproot. This causes a new strain on natural resources and societies. The same UN report listed desertification as “the greatest environmental challenge of our time.”
However, there are a number of plans in the works to combat the slow erosion of villages that are now dangerously close to the arid, uninhabitable reaches of the world’s largest desert. One of those plans is to construct a 6,000 kilometer wall of fortified sand dunes across the desert to keep it from spreading. The plan, put forth by architect Magnus Larsson, would require a specific bacteria, that, when combined with the sand dunes, would turn them into a substance close to concrete within hours.
Other ideas to challenge the spread of the desert have included planting a humongous wall of trees across North Africa, while a similar proposal for the Gobi desert in South Asia is being nicknamed the Green Wall of China. Only time will tell whether these programs have the funding to get off the ground, and whether they will be enacted in time to prevent further strains on the impoverished people of these regions.
