Great 6,000km Saraha Wall July 26, 2009

A plan to build a 6,000km-long wall across the Sahara Desert to stop the spread of the desert has been outlined.

The barrier – formed by solidifying sand dunes – would stretch from Mauritania in the west of Africa to Djibouti in the east. The plan was put forward by architect Magnus Larsson at the TED Global conference in Oxford. A 2007 UN study described desertification as “the greatest environmental challenge of our times”. “The threat is desertification. My response is a sandstone wall made from solidified sand,” said Mr Larsson, who describes himself as a dune architect.

The sand would be stabilised by flooding it with bacteria that can set it like concrete in a matter of hours. North African nations have promoted the idea of planting trees to form a Great Green Belt to prevent the spread of the sand. A similar proposal – known as the Green Wall of China – has also been proposed to stop the spread of the Gobi Desert.

Ballooning idea

In 2007, the UN issued a report that said that one third of the Earth’s population – about two billion people – are potential victims of desertification.

What we Say : This a monumental task. Working in soaring heat to build a wall 6,000km to protect inhabited areas. Monumental. Think about it for a second.