Natural Sciences Active Updated Aug 10, 2026

The Sahel turns green after a generation of drought

Water tables across the semi-arid Sahel, from Senegal to Ethiopia, have risen by 13 feet or more in places once synonymous with famine, with near-extinct wildlife returning and Lake Chad recovering. The stakes are whether this rewetting, tracked since the 1990s and accelerating sharply in the last five years, holds up as a durable shift for 150 million people, and how much credit belongs to heavier monsoon rain versus deliberate efforts like the Great Green Wall.