Greening the Desert: Hope or Illusion?

Few activities are as photogenic as planting a tree. Schools, companies and volunteer groups across the region regularly organise campaigns, and the images of smiling people holding young seedlings suggest a simple message: more trees mean a healthier planet.

Supporters point to real benefits. Trees provide shade, reduce ground temperatures, shelter birds and insects, and absorb carbon dioxide. In cities, a line of trees can make a street several degrees cooler, encouraging people to walk rather than drive.

Some ecologists, however, urge caution. In a dry country, every tree needs water, and a thirsty foreign species can use more than the land can provide. When non-native trees are planted in large numbers, they may push out local plants that have adapted to the climate over thousands of years. The Ghaf and the Sidr, for example, survive with little rain and support local wildlife; a fast-growing imported tree may look greener in the first year but die in the third.

Both sides agree on one point: the problem is not trees themselves, but thoughtless planting. A campaign that counts success only by the number of seedlings in the ground may be measuring the wrong thing. The more useful question is how many are still alive, and useful, ten years later.