5.7 Sand dunes

Before starting planting on sand dunes, the moving surface must be stabilized. This can be done as follows:

- Drive wooden stakes into the sand and tie them together with branches. The fence should be about 0.5-1 metre high. The sand will pile up behind the fence. On the little hill formed a second fence can be built, and so on until it is impossible for the sand to blow over it.

- Cover the dune surface with a layer of branches, palm leaves or the like.

- Sow grass or plant bushes or trees to cover the ground and keep the sand in place. Local, fast-growing species with creeping roots should be used.

Since sand dunes are often found in areas with scarce or very unreliable rainfall, it is particularly important and difficult to pick the right moment to plant. On some sites irrigation from a local well or using a cistern truck or trailer may have to be provided for if the plantation is to succeed at all. The high cost of irrigation is only justified where the plantation protects such valuable assets as villages, roads or an oasis, and where other measures like protection from grazing and direct sowing are not effective.