Country

Western Sahara: 4 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Western Sahara lies entirely within Saharan desert systems, four ecoregions in all. The South Sahara desert and the North Saharan Xeric Steppe and Woodland account for most of the territory, but the most distinctive is the Saharan Atlantic coastal desert along the shore, where the cold ocean moderates temperatures and coastal humidity supports vegetation the deep interior cannot. Saharan halophytics mark the salt flats and depressions, home to salt-tolerant specialists. This is one of the driest inhabited regions on Earth, and open-ground planting without irrigation is essentially confined to the coastal strip and to wadis after rare rains. Succulents, halophytes, and hardened desert shrubs define what grows; everything else is oasis culture.