[Make it Lady (OP)]

I heard that building a wall across the desert could stop the desrt from getting bigger. Is this true?

[litespeed]

No, it is not true.

[Geezer]

No, it is not true.

Well, I guess there can be no doubt about it then, although I understand you can slow things down a bit by careful planting.

[Make it Lady (OP)]

I read in Wired magazine that they were planning some sort of wall in the Sahara but couldn't see how it would work. Can't find the article now.

[iva]

It was a green wall, a wall of trees planted  from Senegal to another city, which was meant to help against sandstorms and improve the soil. There was something on it at that annual Copenhagen convention a few years ago. I don't know if it ever happened.

There was also an article in New scientist a few years back , probably on that same region, where this researcher revisited an area that was becoming desert, he put it down to modern farming methods, so he told them to stop clearing the land and let the natural vegetation sprout, which they did, whilst planting their crops amongst this, and the land flourished.

[Make it Lady (OP)]

No this was an actual wall

[Geezer]

No this was an actual wall

I've heard that

    "Where there's a wall, there's a way."

[Make it Lady (OP)]

http://www.magnuslarsson.com/architecture/dune.asp
I'm not sure if this is the actual article I read but they use bacteria to solidify the sand and make dune structures to make shelter.

[myriam]

hello there

your question makes me thinking really 

no answer yet

but thank you

[norcalclimber]

I read somewhere awhile back(can't find it now for the life of me) that China is attempting to use weather modification to "hold back" the desert?  If it works,  I guess you could say they would be using a wall of green to stop desertification.