Dust storms and tree planting

Well, someone has earned their PhD quite easily.

In a PhD thesis, presented to the University of Glasgow, a student from Kuwait has collected some facts that were already known for centuries[1].

Dust storms, he claims, are one of the significant phenomena in the desert areas of the world. There are many factors which play an important role in the occurrence of dust in Kuwait, they include the following: 1) Kuwait's location within the great desert belt. 2) Lack of rainfall. 3) Lack of vegetation cover. 4) Surface air turbulence due to huge amounts of radiation. 5) Human activities such as over-grazing, off-road driving.

There are many methods which have been used to reduce the amount of dust which is raised up in the air by strong winds. But it seems the most suitable method is tree planting which has many positive effects other than stabilising sand.

Right, so it was once decided to built a city on the fringes of the Arabian Desert and then peopled started complaining about dust. They've created a sprawling city, dominated by huge skyscrapers, but forgot about the environment. The solution: plant trees.

[1] Mohammad: Dust storm phenomena and their environmental impacts in Kuwait. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow - 1989. See here.