Dear Editor,
Climate change is turning vast tracts of previously productive land across North Africa to desert, adding to the existing expanse of the Sahara. It is predicted that 700 million people will be displaced by drought and famine due to climate change by 2030.
There could be a solution.
The sun bears down, and the arid winds blow relentlessly throughout this impoverished part of world. The vast region from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean could become the generators and providers of solar and wind energy to Africa – where over half a billion still live without electricity – with any excess sold to Europe. It’s an energy that is easier to transmit than oil and gas.
This supply of clean energy could provide work and security to impoverished nations, with any excess exported to become an important source of revenue. It would be a much better solution than “aid” and mass migration.
Martin Deighton
Woodbridge, Suffolk
