Warming May Turn Africas Arid Sahel Green: Researchers
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-africas-arid-sahel-green-21602
One of Africa's driest regions the Sahel could turn greener if the planet warms more than 2 degrees Celsius and triggers more frequent heavy rainfall, scientists said on Wednesday.
The Sahel stretches coast to coast from Mauritania and Mali in the west to Sudan and Eritrea in the east, and skirts the southern edge of the Sahara desert. It is home to more than 100 million people.
The road to Djenne, on the Bani River in Mali. The Sahel region could turn greener if the planet warms more than 2 degrees Celsius.
Credit: Carsten ten Brink/flickr
The region has seen worsening extreme weather including more frequent droughts in recent years.
But if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, the resulting global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels could change major weather patterns in the Sahel, and in many different parts of the world, scientists say.