Scientists are concocting a plan to ‘forest a desert’ and ‘cool the world,’ following the long-held dream of science to transform the Sahara into a green paradise with ‘lush inland sea or vast tracts of farmland.’

The dream may just be a reality as scientists have found a way to create forests across the desert, and slow climate change in the process. The only catch is that the ambitious project will cost a cool $2 trillion per year to cover building, running, and maintaining reverse-osmosis plants for desalination and the irrigation equipment.

Leonard Ornstein, a cell biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in partnership with climate modelers David Rind and Igor Aleinov of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies have envisioned ‘desalinating seawater from the neighboring oceans and bringing it inland using aqueducts and pumps.’ Other possibilities include drip irrigation which would connect ‘plastic tubing to water the trees’ roots and would minimize the amount of water lost to evaporation and seepage into sandy soils, allowing trees to prosper in areas that are parched today.’

To be published in the journal Climatic Change is the paper about such climate simulations. The paper suggests that ‘forests would cool the Sahara by up to 8°C in some areas, tree cover would bring more rain–about 700 to 1200 millimeters per year–and clouds, which help reflect the sun’s rays back into space,’ and that desalinating seawater would be affordable.

Via POPSCI.COM