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A wall against the Sahara

To mark World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, we turn the spotlight on the Great Green Wall, a crazy project that could transform the lives of millions of Africans.

Desert landscape of Mauritania, Banc d'Arguin National Park.

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It's a global phenomenon, and it's getting worse every year. Desertification and drought already affect more than 40% of the Earth's land surface, causing terrible famines, leading to colossal fires and rendering entire regions uninhabitable. It is estimated that the equivalent of four football pitches become hostile to life every second, especially in the most exposed regions.

This is why the African states of the Sahel have launched an unprecedented and particularly ambitious initiative to try and roll back the desert: the "Great Green Wall", a mosaic of green and productive ecosystems stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, nearly 7,000 km long and 15 km wide.

Senegal is particularly active in this project, and it is here that local scientists and CNRS researchers are closely studying the environmental and social impacts of this green wall.

On this World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, we invite you to discover our reports on this crazy project, which could well change the lives of millions of people, and some images of different deserts.

Acacias nursery © Axel Ducourneau / CNRS Images

Go further into the Great Green Wall International Research Network

Go further into Asian Steppe history

The Okavango is one of the few rivers that does not flow into the sea or ocean: it stops in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. Periodically, the trapped water forms a great flood which, during several months, concentrates in the Delta an ecosystem of an exceptional diversity.

In Botswana, the Okavango River flows into the Kalahari Desert, creating an alluvial fan (a sort of inland delta) that is fed by an annual flood. French scientists, accompanied by Botswana researchers, are studying this phenomenon.

CNRS Images,

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