Friday July 24 2009
By Jonathan Fildes
Technology reporter, BBC News, Oxford

Sandstorm, west Africa (SPL)
Desert sands, and the dunes that they form, are constantly on the move

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 stabilized 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.

read more:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8166929.stm

Wow, that would be great but who is paying for it?

Wow, that would be great but who is paying for it?
R.T
If they could present balanced cost, process and result I think many nation in the world won't mind pitching in, it could be a nice advertisement platform for nation to show how environmentally responsible they are, particularly China.;)

R.T
...it could be a nice advertisement platform for nation to show how environmentally responsible they are, particularly China.;)

Yah, they could even use 10 year old African boys to build the wall :girl_devil:

cool stuff. definately an eight wonder of the world status

I don't know about this... Baceteria in the soil on this scale could be a potential environmental disaster. Do these bacteria die when when they harden and what type of bacteria is capable of turning sand into cement? Surely, this would be usefull in building homes in Africa and elsewhere. Does anyone have more info on this thing?

They are saying the bacteria is harmless and already active in wetlands.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=stopping-desertification-with-bacte-2009-07-24

Thanks Rasoul jaan. That's quite an interesting propoal I must say and looks like something straight out of Star Trek. I like the balloon idea too. As my mom would say, these Swedes are really something! ;)