Greening the Deserts to Save Civilization

Here is an idea for creating a sustainable future - reclaim many of the world's deserts and arid regions and turn them into much more productive regions in terms of providing food, timber and other renewable resources needed to maintain human civilization.

There are many areas around the world that suffer from a lack of readily available freshwater. Many of these areas, though not all, are called deserts. Among the better known include the Sahara in northern Africa, the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia, and the Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin deserts in North America. Europe has its share of deserts and very arid regions, such as those in Spain, Italy, Serbia and Poland among others. The Syrian Desert, which is spread across Syria, Jordan and Iraq, is a combination of arid steppe and true desert. Much of the Outback region in Australia is arid and contains several deserts.

Many Deserts Are Man-made

Some areas are simply be too far away from a source of evaporated seawater to receive much rain. The Gobi Desert in Asia and in the United States may be one example. But many other deserts were created by human activity.

The Syrian Desert, which runs from Syria and Jordan in the west and covers much of Iraq to the east, was once the region known as the "Fertile Crescent". Over the course of many centuries, human activity destroyed this once lush region and replaced it with very arid, unproductive land. The cedar forests of Lebanon were cut down to make ships and for other uses, and were not replanted (a case of very unsustainable forestry). Goat herders stripped the land of much of its greenry in attempts to protect their herds from predators. Rapid population increases combined with deforestation led to desertification and eventually population decline. What was left was no longer the Fertile Crescent but rather was the Syrian Desert.

The Syrian Desert is but one example of how mankind has created deserts. There are a number of ways humans have created deserts and other unproductive arid regions:

1- Slash and burn agriculture
2- Clear-cutting without replanting
3- Excessive tillage
4- Irrigation from highly mineralized fossil aquifers (leads to salinization of the soil)
5- Dams and other means of water diversion
6- Paving, trampling and water-runoff

Are Deserts Really Unproductive?

Relatively-speaking, yes.

Obviously deserts can and do support life, and there is a surprising amount of biodiversity to be found in many desert regions. However, any comparison to tropical rainforests, or even regular temperate forests, will revel that deserts are relatively unproductive in terms of both biodiversity and biomass. Deserts are especially unproductive in terms of providing renewable resources such as food or timber to meet the needs of people.

Can Deserts Be Made More Productive?

Yes.

There are two basic ways to accomplish this. First, deserts receive lots of solar energy that could be harnessed into a clean source of renewable energy. This may be the best human use of natural deserts, such as the Gobi and the Mojave. Second, man-made deserts (and possibly some areas of natural deserts) such as the Syrian Desert and many of the European deserts, can be reclaimed through reforestation and permaculture. These reclaimed deserts could then provide many renewable resources such as food, timber, fibers and biofuels.

Reforested areas would also act as filters cleaning the atmosphere of greenhouse gases and pollutants, as well as providing other environmental services such as preventing soil erosion and controlling flooding. They would also promote biodiversity.



But, what about the Spiny Desert Tortoise?

One objection I can foresee many people making is that greening the deserts will change the natural order of things, and will put desert ecosystems and their unique biodiversity at risk.

One thing to remember is that reclaiming many deserts and arid regions will actually restore the natural order that mankind has already upset. Mankind turned the Fertile Crescent into the Syrian Desert. Turning the Syrian Desert back into the Fertile Crescent would be merely restoring the natural order.

Restoring man-made deserts to their natural condition, before mankind's interference, would actually be a net-gain in terms of biodiversity.

Areas that are natural deserts might to some degree be terraformed into lusher, more productive areas. This would be making a value judgment on the usefulness of an ecosystem, and saying that one (forested) is preferable to another (desert, arid). However, I am not suggesting that all naturally arid areas will or should be terraformed. In fact, some regions may be impossible to change, such as the heart of the Gobi Desert in Asia.

Placing solar collectors in natural deserts such as the Mojave Desert in the USA can be done, and is already being done, with minimal - if any - impact on desert biodiversity.