The Sahara once teemed with lakes and wildlife. In Chad's Ennedi, rock art offers clues — and warnings — as climate change reshapes the hottest desert.

Ennedi Plateau

The Ennedi Plateau in northern Chad contains ancient rock art that provides evidence the Sahara was once a fertile, green region teeming with wildlife and human activity. Scientists, including local researcher Mohamed Ahmadoumar, are studying these artworks and fossil remains to reconstruct the area's environmental history, which shifted from a lush landscape to the arid desert seen today due to climatic changes thousands of years ago.

Recent increases in rainfall, attributed to climate change, have brought both benefits and challenges to local communities and the preservation of the rock art. While the rains have improved grazing conditions, they also threaten the prehistoric artworks. Human activities, such as graffiti and misuse of caves, pose additional risks. Efforts are underway to document and protect this heritage, with local teams conducting multidisciplinary excavations and raising awareness among communities about the importance of preserving these cultural treasures.

Chad: The Ennedi tells the Sahara's ancient story

As incredible as it may seem, the Sahara was not always the arid desert we know today, but a lush, green land teeming with wildlife. Traced by our ancestors thousands of years ago in northern Chad, these ancient paintings testify that the Green Sahara is no legend. At one point in history, the environment here was green. There was enough food for livestock. These are animals that really existed, domesticated by prehistoric people when the climate was favorable to their breeding. Later, when the climate shifted and became arid, humans adapted and introduced the camel. Mohamed Ahmadoumar is a young Chadian scientist trying to piece that world back together through rock art and fossil remains found on site. If we take the example of hippos or other aquatic animals, we can imagine this space was once marked by lakes and rivers. This vanished landscape that existed between 5,000 and 11,000 years ago is well known to scientists such as paleoclimatologist Florence Sylvestre. During this Holocene period, the Earth's orbit created conditions for a stronger summer insulation. The planet was closer to the sun during summer, with a larger part of the northern hemisphere exposed, which led to intense continental warming and higher oceanic evaporation. There were perfect conditions for abundant water in what we know today as the Sahara. Across the millennia, the Sahara withered into the world's largest hot desert, wildlife disappeared and human communities had no choice but to migrate or adapt to survive. These lessons resonate strongly with communities, such as the people from Arche, who are already feeling the impact of climate change reshaping the Sahara once again. Climatologists predict rainfall in the region could rise by 30 percent by 2050. I've never seen rains like last year's. Houses were destroyed, some of our livestock was swept away and even human lives were lost. The damage was incalculable. This is unprecedented. We're worried by the consequences of climate change on our lives. But in another sense, it also brought benefits for us herders. The rains grew fresh grass for our animals. So maybe we'll be able to live better in the future. The increased rainfall is not only a mixed blessing for the region's inhabitants, it could be also an existential threat to the prehistoric artworks of Ennedi. Mohamed is monitoring that threat with the aid of French archaeologist Frédéric Duquenois. We had documented the site in early August last year, before the heavy rains. And now we want to see where the runoff occurred and what kind of damage it may have caused. We also understand it is a blessing for the people living here today, because more humidity would make life less harsh. For now, the only solution is to document the paintings, while they are still visible and intact, to preserve at least a trace of this heritage, so it can be studied even if one day it disappears. Fortunately, the latest rains spared the paintings. Right now, the main danger isn't climate, it's people. Some use caves for storage, others draw graffiti on the paintings out of ignorance. These behaviors are what truly concern us. Arche is one of the most famous tourist sites in Ennedi, and also one of the most exposed to human damage. These graffiti are part of the destruction of our rock art. People don't understand the value of this heritage. They tear apart a material proof of our history and culture. It hurts me deeply to see this. And that's the reason why Mohamed regularly visits villages, to speak with locals, raise awareness and encourage them to protect this legacy. For now, we can't fence off the rock art sites within the natural and cultural reserve of Ennedi. So our current strategy is to raise awareness among local communities, to make them understand the importance of this heritage. Because it belongs to them, and to humanity as a whole. Protecting it is crucial. Mohamed has assembled an archeological team to precisely date the paintings. This mission, financed by NGO African Parks, is another crucial step to safeguard this heritage and share it with the world. This is the first time I've led such a team, and the first time multidisciplinary excavations are being carried out in the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve. I feel proud, and emotional, and responsible for guiding this mission, with the hope of finding clues that can shed light on the rock paintings of Ennedi. The results of this research, Mohamed Ahmadoumar hopes, will raise awareness of how our ancestors adapted to climate change and what lessons we can draw for the future. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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