Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The controversial plan to turn a desert green
The Sinai Peninsula is an arid land bridge between Asia and Africa. The
triangular-shaped peninsula has a land area of about 60,000 square kilometers, facing
the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Red Sea in the south, the Suez Canal
and Gulf of Suez in the west, and Israel in the east. The peninsula had once been
green and fertile until it was overused by humans. Now, a Dutch engineer has an
ambitious plan to transform this barren desert into green, fertile land that hosts
animals and birds. He aims to suck up planet-heating carbon dioxide, increase
rainfall, produce food, and create jobs for local people. It is one of the
desert greening projects around the world that are trying to halt
desertification and degradation of drylands. For example, in the 1990s, a
similar large-scale project was implemented in the Loess Plateau in northern
China which had been over-used and over-grazed. After planting trees and shrubs
while banning grazing, the region's plateau has flourished with green, and soil
erosion has been reduced. However, critics claim ecosystems are so complex that
unintended consequences might occur. In the meanwhile, doing nothing wouldn’t change
or bring about anything.
Read the article and learn about an ambitious transforming project for
the desert peninsula.
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