If the history books that I’ve read are correct, then during the time of Alexander the Great, the northern coast of Africa (outside of the areas with higher human population density) was a functioning dry-forest ecosystem. During the time of the Roman Empire, people cut down large areas of forest in order to plant grass – wheat and barley for human consumption, and pasture grass for cows and goats. Without sufficient forest cover to pull in moisture from the Mediterranean, the rains stopped coming, the remaining vegetation died off, and the Sahara Desert advanced to the coast. This was a case of human-caused climate change.
Forests precede civilisations, and deserts follow them.
Something to keep in mind the next time that you hear/read that non-forest ecosystems are “natural” and should be preserved as they are.
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There are still some dry forest areas there today, mainly in the mountains. Can be tough to interpret historical texts because they often refer to only one location which may not even be totally certain.
But if this is true it’s quite interesting.
That last sentence sounds like you think the forest is the only natural ecosystem. It is definitely not.
Of course forests are not the only “natural” ecosystems, but many of the non-forest ecosystems in the world today only exist due to human intervention / deforestation.
They were definitely exacerbated, but even the young deserts in North America are estimated to be millions of years old.
Edit: like the most prominent example I can think of is the drying of the Levant.
Here’s another example:
The Romans called the Scottish Highlands Caledonia, named after the vast forest that grew everywhere. The Caledonian forest.
The Highlands now are essentially a barren wasteland compared with how they would be naturally. Many people think the heather and grass is majestic, beautiful, and of course, natural. But it’s not natural, and all I see is death and desolation.
