North Africa lakes--effects on regional and global climate?

It presents the argument well, although to me it feels a bit deterministic as well as influenced a bit by colonialist thought. But it does seem undeniable that the environment was affected by the Arabs in ways it would have not have been otherwise.

But what about rainfall? Disregarding historic degredation, changing the amount of moisture in the atmosphere would affect how people use the nearby land. And that's something that making a few lakes in the Sahara, especially one as big as the Qattara Sea has been proposed to be, will do.

Also, what about any interplay between the Qattara Sea (or more distantly, the Sahara Sea of Tunisia/Algeria) and the Aswan Dam? Egypt would love any way to reduce evaporation of water in the Nile Basin to increase the amount used for irrigation.
Another aspect coming into the XXth century is that, if it's not too polluted by chemical/mining industry, it might be used as a tourist resort, combining desert adventure with a "by the sea" feel. This would probably accelerate water works, possibly orchards, gardens... A whole lot of seeds coming there changing the ecosystem
 
Yeah, but that would rely on the countries not clinging onto them desperately for development, or for France/Britain/other colonial power, wanting their money's worth. But maybe they could have one of the bays of these lakes for tourism and try and keep it as clean/sightly as possible. But it would have the same problem as the Great Salt Lake seems to have had in developing a tourist industry, although for what it's worth, you can control the water levels in these lakes unlike the Great Salt Lake.

It does seem that many of these lakes would be very suitable areas for seawater greenhouses that would be necessary to make those orchards and gardens.
 
Top