This. Also, the precipitation since the late sixties in the area surrounding the Saharan desert has been below average, leading to desertification (http://ocea

This. Also, the precipitation since the late sixties in the area surrounding the Saharan desert has been below average, leading to desertification (http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/desertificationinsahel.html http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/desert...): > Years of above average rainfall from the 1950s to the 1970s, were followed by drought in the sahel starting in the late 1960s. The drought has had a devastating impact on this ecologically vulnerable region and was a major impetus in the establishment of the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification and Drought. So, during the 1960:s North Africa probably looked extra lush because it had experienced over a decade of above-average precipitation.