Flooding the Sahara

The Sahara is the largest desert in the world. In the 1880s, a French topographer promoted the idea of building a navigable canal to the nearby Mediterranean Sea to allow the desert to be flooded, not only creating an economic boom along its banks but also completely changing the climate, bringing rain clouds, thus altering the course of agriculture in this drought-stricken place.

The enthusiasm of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, was enlisted but the project was scuppered when the latter went bankrupt in the Panama Canal fiasco. Today the project is again being envisaged. But this type of geo-engineering can be dangerous. When we play God, we do not always foresee the consequences.

The film investigates the scientific and historical aspects, not to mention the ethical questions posed.

Producer / Production Details

Thelos