That's not a concrete theory because south somalia is green and is also surrounded by the kenyan highlands to the south. I think it's mainly because our ancestors cut down all the trees and over grazed for centuries without allowing the land to recover. If israel can make their desert green then so can we.
Why does Somalia not contain any rainforest?
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Like it was mentioned above; were surrounded on 3 sides (south west based rift mountain ranges, amhar mountain ranges in the west and the Yemeni mountains up north).
However there's also this weird effect related to the Indian ocean monsoons winds that suck up all the moisture we have near us and sends it north to India.
The only way we could overcome this hydrological disability is by creating a series of huge lakes on Somali land.
I.e. lakes as big as lake Victoria deep inside the Galbeed and under the shadows of the call madow mountains.
That's step 1
The second just as essential step is to create billions of tonnes of soil that absorbs water better.
Our current soil is really bad at it.
I'm sure there are cheap ways to get around doing this... Hopefully cents per meter squared but it's still going to cost billions.
Alternatively we could turn all of Somalia into a greenhouse where we could control the moisture required to grow plants and collect rain at the same time but we'll need a ton of automation know how and tech that we don't have access to.
Greenhouse valley Almera, Spain
Might seem fantastical or even impossible but with cheap energy and automation it could end up being the cheapest option.
After that w can send the middle finger to nature since we won't need to rely on that anymore.
However there's also this weird effect related to the Indian ocean monsoons winds that suck up all the moisture we have near us and sends it north to India.
The only way we could overcome this hydrological disability is by creating a series of huge lakes on Somali land.
I.e. lakes as big as lake Victoria deep inside the Galbeed and under the shadows of the call madow mountains.
That's step 1
The second just as essential step is to create billions of tonnes of soil that absorbs water better.
Our current soil is really bad at it.
I'm sure there are cheap ways to get around doing this... Hopefully cents per meter squared but it's still going to cost billions.
Alternatively we could turn all of Somalia into a greenhouse where we could control the moisture required to grow plants and collect rain at the same time but we'll need a ton of automation know how and tech that we don't have access to.
Greenhouse valley Almera, Spain
Might seem fantastical or even impossible but with cheap energy and automation it could end up being the cheapest option.
After that w can send the middle finger to nature since we won't need to rely on that anymore.
Or do that.
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The Greenhouse farming model is the best way forward tbh.Like it was mentioned above; were surrounded on 3 sides (south west based rift mountain ranges, amhar mountain ranges in the west and the Yemeni mountains up north).
However there's also this weird effect related to the Indian ocean monsoons winds that suck up all the moisture we have near us and sends it north to India.
The only way we could overcome this hydrological disability is by creating a series of huge lakes on Somali land.
I.e. lakes as big as lake Victoria deep inside the Galbeed and under the shadows of the call madow mountains.
That's step 1
The second just as essential step is to create billions of tonnes of soil that absorbs water better.
Our current soil is really bad at it.
I'm sure there are cheap ways to get around doing this... Hopefully cents per meter squared but it's still going to cost billions.
Alternatively we could turn all of Somalia into a greenhouse where we could control the moisture required to grow plants and collect rain at the same time but we'll need a ton of automation know how and tech that we don't have access to.
Greenhouse valley Almera, Spain
Might seem fantastical or even impossible but with cheap energy and automation it could end up being the cheapest option.
After that w can send the middle finger to nature since we won't need to rely on that anymore.
We can become a major food exporter if we implement this farming model in the Northern regions.
We have a lot of potential and we are luckier than most to be blessed with vast resources and the ability to develop our country with modern technology instead of having to replace old technology and infrastructure. I always like to think that we are starting off on a clean plate. Our country is a plain canvas waiting for us to shape it in our image. Your idea is great! and since we have the greatest solar and wind potential in the continent, i would suggest we start producing our own electricity and sell it to our neighbours. Then we can take the money we make from the electricity exports and use that to fund reforestation campaigns and such ideas that were much above.Like it was mentioned above; were surrounded on 3 sides (south west based rift mountain ranges, amhar mountain ranges in the west and the Yemeni mountains up north).
However there's also this weird effect related to the Indian ocean monsoons winds that suck up all the moisture we have near us and sends it north to India.
The only way we could overcome this hydrological disability is by creating a series of huge lakes on Somali land.
I.e. lakes as big as lake Victoria deep inside the Galbeed and under the shadows of the call madow mountains.
That's step 1
The second just as essential step is to create billions of tonnes of soil that absorbs water better.
Our current soil is really bad at it.
I'm sure there are cheap ways to get around doing this... Hopefully cents per meter squared but it's still going to cost billions.
Alternatively we could turn all of Somalia into a greenhouse where we could control the moisture required to grow plants and collect rain at the same time but we'll need a ton of automation know how and tech that we don't have access to.
Greenhouse valley Almera, Spain
Might seem fantastical or even impossible but with cheap energy and automation it could end up being the cheapest option.
After that w can send the middle finger to nature since we won't need to rely on that anymore.
Pretty soon our country will be a tourist spot but before we show it off to the world we must beautify it for ourselves to enjoy .
Our country is currently only 11% forested. I say we can easily push that up to 25% by 2050 if we start now.
We don't even need a full-blown greenhouse. Just a plain transparent cover to protect plants from the full effect of the Somali sun and in turn require less water due to less evaporation.
It would also help with rainwater harvesting even in the north where it barely rains. That alone would provide us with 20% of the water required if not more.
In the south we could probably collect 100% of the water we need for high yield cultivation.
The main components needed for these cheap greenhouses are
- Energy,
- Local materials with minimum refinement (i.e steel, basic polymers) and
- Manpower (plenty of idle hands but automation would make it viable).
We can't run a sustainable economy if we have to continuously spend foreign currency to feed our own people.
However I don't see how we're able to do so without a massive Manhattan project aimed towards coming up with a way to create millions of hectares of cultivated land.
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Let's make it 50% in the future.
The place is too big for our population and a single state for agriculture is enough to feed us all 5x over (JL 10 million ha).
So it's either farms, dry boring savannah or a forest.
Agreed! 50% more trees will encourage more rainfall trust me and the climate will cool down slightly. we need to make sure there are thick forests near the nugaal basins to support the river resurrection project and in the mountains to encourage more rain there also. Trees do a lot for the ecosystem and our animals and wild life will thank us for expanding their biodiversity.
Trees are very important for rain and we practically have land with no trees and wonder why we have drought. All the water runs off the bad soil (which can be repaired) and runs off into the indian ocean. Then we have no evaporation and no rain in that region.
Why do you think china are planting trees in the gobi desert? it's because they know trees bring about rainfall. Sxb pretty soon china will have more green land than desert and we can do it even quicker because our land is arid meaning the soil is just dry and we can repair that easily.
Do you think the landscape of somalia is fully discovered the italians didn't put so many effort in it and not much is documented as good as other countries in AfricaSomalia is an equatorial country, so why does it not contain a lush rainforest?
For those who don't know an equatorial country tends to have high temperature, humidity and rainfall. That's why most rainforest are in South America, Africa and South East Asia.
So why is it that East Africa lacks is pretty much the only region lack this attribute
I'm sure the locals know the areas inside and out.
Agreed! 50% more trees will encourage more rainfall trust me and the climate will cool down slightly. we need to make sure there are thick forests near the nugaal basins to support the river resurrection project and in the mountains to encourage more rain there also. Trees do a lot for the ecosystem and our animals and wild life will thank us for expanding their biodiversity.
Trees are very important for rain and we practically have land with no trees and wonder why we have drought. All the water runs off the bad soil (which can be repaired) and runs off into the indian ocean. Then we have no evaporation and no rain in that region.
Why do you think china are planting trees in the gobi desert? it's because they know trees bring about rainfall. Sxb pretty soon china will have more green land than desert and we can do it even quicker because our land is arid meaning the soil is just dry and we can repair that easily.
The problem though is the old chicken or egg question.
Where do we get the water first to start off the forest before the forest starts increasing the rainfall.
Our current surface water resources would barely water a forest that's 1% of Somalia.
All of the soil could be synthetically produced and replaced over time through volunteers but water is more difficult to find.
Unfortunately none of our neighbors have huge river networks that we could redirect into canals like the Chinese are doing.
Maybe huge salt lakes deep in Somalia could cool the region and increase the water moisture in our driest regions.
However for all I know the pressure there would still be higher than Kenya or the Indian ocean and they might just pull away all the moisture and waste all our hard work.
We can resurrect the nugaal river an make it permanent. This will provide enough water for the irrigation of the nugaal valley. That would be a start. The Indians managed to bring to life a dry river that sufferers from drought.
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