sands encroaching – A photo essay shot in Chad captures how rising temperatures are shrinking oases in the Sahel—while farmers try to slow advancing dunes with palm-frond barriers and, in some places, solar-powered water pumps tied to the controversial Great Green Wall initiative
On the edge of the town of Mao in Chad, an oasis still makes farming possible—date palms reaching up from small fields and a patchwork of crops fed by water that, for now, holds steady.
But the photos tell a quieter story than farming ever should: vegetation retreating as the heat climbs. and sand dunes creeping closer until the boundary between oasis and desert starts to blur. The images are part of a photo essay by photographer Tommy Trenchard. titled “Saving the Sahara’s oases. ” tracing how fragile ecosystems across the region are disappearing.
In the Sahel—Africa’s semi-arid belt south of the Sahara. stretching from Mauritania to Eritrea—oases like the one near Mao are not just scenery. They are lifelines for people and wildlife. As temperatures rise due to climate change. the essay shows. vegetation withdraws around the oases and sand dunes encroach upon them.
In villages such as Kaou, also in Chad, farmers respond with the tools they have. One image shows farmers installing barricades made from palm fronds in an attempt to halt shifting dunes threatening their local oasis outside Kaou. The barriers are meant to slow the sand long enough to protect fields—an urgent. manual effort against forces that don’t pause for seasons.
The photographs also place these local tactics alongside broader regional promises. In 2007, the African Union launched the Great Green Wall initiative, designed to prevent desertification across the Sahel. As part of that effort. solar-powered water pumps have been installed in places such as Barkadroussou. not far from Mao in Chad. to help farmers irrigate crops.
Still. the essay underlines the tension at the heart of the story: even where measures like barriers or boreholes can make a difference. the future is shaped by what temperatures are expected to do next. A borehole is shown installed outside an oasis in Barkadroussou in Chad—but with temperatures set to rise higher still. the photos leave a hard question hanging in the air. It is far from clear that oases like these will remain oases for much longer.
Sahara oases Chad Sahel climate change sand dunes desertification Great Green Wall African Union solar-powered water pumps palm frond barriers Barkadroussou Mao Kaou
So basically the desert is eating the farms… wild.
I don’t get how they can stop dunes with palm fronds lol. Like yeah cool photo but sand doesn’t care. Also “Great Green Wall” sounds like one of those things that never really helps.