First of all: correlation != causation. People do live in semi-arid regions bordering on deserts, so if the local climate was even slightly better than it is to

First of all: correlation != causation. People do live in semi-arid regions bordering on deserts, so if the local climate was even slightly better than it is today people would have lived there and as things changed they would have given up settlements. People living there previously is not proof of them causing desertification. Also roads going through deserts does not prove much since they could just connect oasis or move goods across the desert without people living within it. The Sahara itself also is fairly old[0]. Of course its total extent is variable and subject to natural and man-made climate change and other human influence. But there is a huge difference between human activity creating a desert and influencing its extent or aridity. Most deserts are naturally created through the rain shadow[1] and other precipitation-reducing effects of geographic features. [0] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhongshi_Zhang/publication/265791589_Aridification_of_the_Sahara_desert_caused_by_Tethys_Sea_shrinkage_during_the_Late_Miocene/links/5458b7120cf2cf5164833037.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhongshi_Zhang/publicat... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow