How rolling sand dunes are creeping up on last remaining oases on edge of Sahara

On the ochre sands of Kanem, the neat vegetable gardens and silver-green palm trees of Kaou oasis stand out, incongruous in this desert province of 70,000 sq km in western Chad. Oases such as this, on the edge of the Sahara, have sustained human life in the world’s deserts for thousands of years. Globally, an estimated 150 million people rely on the water, arable land and access to trade networks they provide. But in Chad, such oases are disappearing fast. With two-thirds of its territory consisting of desert, the landlocked central African country is the most vulnerable in the world to climate breakdown. It ranks among the world’s hottest and temperatures in Kanem province are rising almost twice as fast as the global average. Interactive An aerial view of the desert village of Kaou, in Chad’s Kanem province and an oasis on the edge of the desert town of Mao, known as the White City for the limestone used to build homes. The area’s farmers rely on the oasis to grow food but these vital sources of water are disappearing as temperatures get hotter and winds grow stronger, elders say. Video: Julie Bourdin Standing in the scalding sand, Mahamat Souleymane Issa gestures at a thin strip of greenery stretching along a few hundred metres. “When I was a child, this wadi [river valley] was very big,” he says. In the villages surrounding Kaou oasis, “everyone used to have livestock – cattle, camels, goats”, recalls the 51-year-old chief. “There were many trees and grass would grow in their shade. A lot has changed.” Mahamat Ali, of SOS Sahel, inspects a barrier of palm fronds designed to secure sand dunes that threaten to swamp the oasis of Nokou in Kanem province The increasingly hot and dry climate has wiped out most of Kaou’s trees, local people say. Rolling sand dunes, pushed ever closer by stronger winds, now threaten to swamp what is left. “Without this wadi, we cannot live,” says Souleymane Issa. More than 500 families depend on Kaou’s oasis for their survival. The underground water reserves are a lifeline, and about 100 farmers scratch out a precarious existence growing crops and harvesting dates from the remaining palm trees. We started growing vegetables we’d never tasted before – fresh okra, fresh tomatoes that we could cook in a sauce Hereta Abakar Issa, farmer A few hedges of palm fronds wedged in the dunes stand as a testament to the villagers’ efforts to protect the remaining oasis. In 2023, SOS Sahel, a nonprofit development organisation, helped the farmers build barricades to stabilise the dunes, and installed a solar-powered irrigation system to draw underground water more effectively. The organisation trained the villagers in farming techniques, gave them seeds and fenced off their gardens. “We started growing vegetables we’d never tasted before – fresh okra, fresh tomatoes that we could cook in a sauce,” says Hereta Abakar Issa, a 43-year-old mother of seven. On this hot day, she is one of about 30 villagers who have come to repair some barricades that have been knocked down by the wind. “Our wadi is threatened from all sides by the sand,” Abakar Issa says. She plants a sharp palm frond into the sand, then weaves the long leaves together to form a tight barrier over a metre high. Interactive Farmers build barricades from palm fronds to secure the shifting dunes that threaten to swamp their oasis – their only source of water. Video: Julie Bourdin Around her, dozens of women are hard at work, chatting as the fence takes shape. “This is very important,” says Abakar Issa. Already, sand slips through the gaps in the palms. “If the wadi disappears,” she says, “we’ll have to leave.” Most of the young men in the area have already left. Every year, pushed by harsher living conditions in the desert, thousands travel north to try their luck in the goldfields of Chad’s Tibesti region, on the northern border with Libya. Camels graze on acacia leaves near Mao, in Kanem province A woman helps to make a barrier out of palm fronds to protect against the sand dunes; Farmers tend to their crops in an oasis in the desert in Barkadroussou, Chad. The oasis has benefitted from support by the NGO SOS Sahel, as part of its broad efforts to bolster the Great Green Wall Initiative. SOS Sahel helped farmers to stabilise the dunes that threaten to swamp the oasis, as well as installing a borehole and providing seeds and technical assistance “Up there, they get used as forced labour,” says Souleymane Issa, whose own son has made the journey. “There are many deaths. They come back sick and very weak.” Related: ‘I have searched and searched for help’: the Sudanese women left alone to live hand to mouth in Chad’s desert camps Several of Kaou’s young men returned to the village after SOS Sahel started, he says. Alongside its training and investments, the project was also a rare source of employment, albeit sporadic. But funding for the programme ran out after about six months, in early 2024. After waiting months for the project to restart, many returned to the goldmines. A similar initiative in the nearby oasis of Barkadroussou shows how successful such programmes can be. Here, a solar water pump installed by SOS Sahel in 2014 still supports more than 300 farmers – and, through them, about 3,000 villagers. Fields of onions, lettuce, beets and millet surround a lush forest of palm and banana trees, with a turquoise lake at its centre. Sitting in the cool shade at the edge of the gardens, Omar Issa watches as women harvest their crops. For five years, the 40-year-old dug for gold in the northern town of Miski. Bringing in the banana crop – the lush forest of the oasis is full of palm and banana trees “It’s very hot, there’s not much to eat and there are a lot of attacks,” he says of the experience. “But there was no work here, so I had no other choice.” When he heard of SOS Sahel’s growing projects in Barkadroussou, Issa came home hoping for new opportunities. For a while, he attended training sessions and took on a few odd jobs. But here, too, programmes stopped in 2023 when the NGO’s funding cycle came to an end. “If I don’t find anything to do in the wadi, I will have to return to the goldfields,” Issa says. And while he hopes his children never have to follow him to the north, he knows that with the oasis shrinking, they might not be able to stay much longer in Kaou. “If there is no work, there will be no choice,” he says. “They will have to go.” This article was developed with support from Journalismfund Europe The oasis in Barkadroussou, Kanem province. SOS Sahel has helped farmers to stabilise the dunes, as well as installing a borehole and providing seeds and technical help