Can we stop the deserts from spreading?

Earth's soils are degrading into deserts at an unprecedented rate, with catastrophic consequences. The good news is that humans can turn them into fertile land.

Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Video Editor: Madmo Cem Adam Springer
Supervising Editor: Joanna Gottschalk

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our channel explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

#PlanetA #Desertification #RegenerativeAgriculture

Read more:

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Our earth is turning into sand
02:38 Saudi Arabia Case 1
03:45 Saudi Arabia Case 2
05:55 Sahara: Renewables greening deserts
08:35 China's green miracle
10:55 Conclusion

[limbodog]

It's also been shown that you can mount massive solar farms a bit higher up in the air (3meters+/-) and space them out a bit, and it allows you to grow crops underneath. They get plenty of sunlight and are offered some shade too to help prevent overheating and evaporation.

[koicaine]

Where I live is basically beach sand, I've been growing a garden for 4 years and although it is constant work because everything filters down through the sand, it's still worth it because now we have, insects, birds, reptiles and an ever growing list of species that keep showing up in a place that was completely devoid of life before I started the garden.

[annetteheath]

The Paani Foundation in India holds a competition for villages who are in need of water. It is called the Water Cup. It works by training the villages in water harvesting and then they have 45 days to put the infrastructure in place. It is hugely successful. I think it can work in most area of the world which is facing desertification.

[sujoms]

I am from Hungary. The South of Hungary is very sandy and it is hard to farm. So what did the farmers do? They started growing trees called: Robinia pseudoacacia (originally from north Mexico). This plant is actually kind of invasive, but it also has some benefits.

1. Produces flowers for bees
2. It's roots go really deep, and it can withstand dry soil
3. Grows fast and binds water in the ground (it co-operates with many fungi)

In hungary it was used to bind sand and quicksand in the southern area of Hungary . It has spikes, but camels could eat the spikes (once you get a big forest of Robinias, they grow back really quickly.

The only problem is, they "sleep" during winter. So I am not sure how it would grow in the sahara.. Anyone has any experience with this? Please comment.

We have some areas in Northern Hungary where they plant these trees and within 5 years, instead of sand, you get this "brownish" sandy something, and earthworms can survive in the shades, meaning they can produce the bacteria needed.

[knvwsrr]

Here in the philippines, it storms and flood almost all year round. How we wish we can share some of the rains with the desserts.

[veronicarosalez]

So interesting learning about these large scale projects and about the different methods on how to help the plant. Greening those areas helps the people in the areas and the ecosystem.

[gatsuyatsu]

The desert really sucks, we at the gulf region are fighting against all odds trying to plant and grow crop, so seeing things like this makes my happy.

[smilo_don]

Of course we can, just like we can stop other climate crises, but will we?

[bobyoung]

The United States has nearly drained aquifers that were assumed to last forever by growing food plants in areas where there was not enough rainfall to sustain plant life. Now, much of that area is in drought and various communities fight with each other about water rights. These types of developments can be fraught with danger and I hope the developers are considering the ramifications.

[vivvz]

This reminds me of an amazing story that was part of a documentary about the worlds deserts, where they showed an old man and his wife creating a garden in the Gobi desert! It's mind blowing to me how "simple" it would be for us to help the earth help us save it, but we're not doing it!

[johnely]

I think greening deserts is a wonderful idea. I wish governments in Australia would start such a project.

[eduardopacheco]

It's actually magic to me to find out crops are being grown on sand, because sand has THE LOWEST water retention capabilities of all tipes of soil, there must be a way to turn sand into a soil with more clay and loam proportions, so that it contains more water and lowers irrigation frequency

[mosabreda]

It's nice he never said the "Sahara Desert" and just said the "Sahara" as it should be called! This was an amazing video

[vutEwa]

Al Bayda is an awesome project. I watched the construction of the gabions some years back when it was being created. They also used earth bag construction to build walls. It's really quite an involved project. Not just about saving water but also in protecting the land they are working on from predators and stuff so that they can get maturity out of the landscape that returns.

[henryarero]

More attention should be given to the Desert to Stop Desert spreading

[Picci]

Permaculture and holistic pasture management are good solutions, as they operate according to nature. Look at the wonderful results of "Greening the desert" project by Jordan government, directed by permaculture guru Geoff Lawton, or at the results obtained on grasslands by Alan Savory in Zimbabwue and Botswana, or at the "Loess plateau" recovery in China by doctor John D. Liu

[DWPlanetA]

Have you thought of ways that we can save the earth's soil?

[Roby-qunt]

Let's stop the desert from expanding and let's plant more flowers, trees and green plants!

[ChrisandKen]

Great video. Raising awareness on these issues and possibilities is critical.

[LemberTheMember]

Solarpanels to provide shade for plants could also be a great option for desert countrys to reduce sun stress on their agricultural plants and produce electricity simultaneously!