Sahara Turns Green: Should we Celebrate or Worry? | Vantage with Palki Sharma

for our last story tonight let's talk about the land where time seems to stand still the land with a Relentless sun and Rippling sand I'm talking about the Sahara Desert it spans across North Africa it's the largest hot desert in the world one of the driest regions on Earth but maybe not So Much Anymore the Sahara is blooming with life NASA has released satellite images they capture the desert's green shift with plant life popping up everywhere adding color to the typically arid land why is this happening is it a cause for celebration or a sign

of Devastation our next report tells you this is the Sahara Desert it spans across North Africa with an area of more than 9 million square kilm it is the largest hot desert in the world but for scientists the Sahara is like a large open a museum where the shifting Sands and the weathering bring up ancient Landscapes from a bygone era did you know that thousands of years ago the Sahara was nothing like it is today it was home to Lush Greenery packed with lakes and rivers even forests so the Sahara is an immense Data Bank

it can tell us what climate change can do to a region how it can affect Landscapes and civilizations how it can turn a Savanah brimming with life into one of the hottest and driest places on Earth because today we are witnessing this shift once again but this time climate change is taking the Sahara back to its roots NASA has released satellite images of the desert they show a dramatic transformation the Sahara is Shifting green you can see the influx of color from space over the past few months the region has witnessed heavy rainfall so plants

are growing across the desert especially in Morocco Algeria Tunisia and Libya these are generally treeless Landscapes they rarely receive any rain but now green shoots are sprouting up across these regions now considering the Region's history this is not completely unusual the Sahara looks like a desert but when a deluge of rain pours in everything starts Greening quickly plant life starts to sprout nature responds readily what's unusual is the rate at which this is happening the Flora may look pretty but this is a devastating sign of the things to come climate change is changing the tracks

of storms in Africa it has moved the storm system northward so rainfall in the region has become stronger and more frequent within a matter of days North Africa received a Year's worth of rainfall so typically dry areas like Niger Chad Sudan Libya and Egypt have received more than 400% of their typical rainfall since July now there is catastrophic flooding about 4 million people have been severely impacted and the Sahara Desert is about six times wetter than it should be meanwhile because the storms have shifted some countries that should be getting more rainfall like Nigeria and

Cameroon are getting fewer rains they received between 50 to 80% of their typical rainfall since July scientists say this is only the beginning climate change is disrupting Seasons making natural disasters worse and inviting major consequences so while the Sahara looks fascinating with its Newfound Greenery this is no cause for celebration for