The Oltenian Sahara ( ro, Sahara Olteniei) is a name given to an area in the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n region of

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

covering the territory between the city of

Calafat Calafat () is a city in Dolj County, southern Romania, in the region of Oltenia. It lies on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Vidin, to which it is linked by the Calafat-Vidin Bridge, opened in 2013. After the destruction of the br ...

and the town of Dăbuleni, spanning an area of about , or 6% of

Dolj County Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)- Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to '' Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, the c ...

. The sandy areas in the region have extended because of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

events that occurred in the 1960s, during the Communist period. Under the leadership of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

, 26% of Romania's water was drained for farmland, including all five of Oltenia's natural water bodies. One such body of water was the -long Potelu Lake (near Potelu village), now completely dry. Another village on the lake's shore was Grojdibodu; locals recall how people survived by fishing, and the air was humid and clean, before the communist authorities built dams and a pumping station to dry out the lake. According to Dan Popescu, the head of the local "Rebirth of the Forest" association, of forest were cut down and replaced with acacia trees to stop the wind and the sand. The "Băltărețu" wind (which was warm and humid and brought rain) disappeared; in summer, air temperatures would rise over and sand temperatures to over . After the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

of 1989 things deteriorated further. The land was returned to private hands, but the landowners cleared out of forest, including the acacia canopies, and grew whatever they wanted, overwhelming the irrigation system. In the early 2000s, some farmers sought to irrigate the fields by themselves, but, without state support, those attempts failed, and the system was eventually torn down by scrap iron thieves. Due to the sudden desertification in the area, the name "Oltenian Sahara" quickly caught on among the locals. Dăbuleni has likewise gained the nickname the "capital" of the Oltenian Sahara and it is the only place in Europe where a sand museum exists. Despite some modest attempts to prevent further desertification in the area, the process is still ongoing at a rate of per year and is unlikely to stop unless more drastic measures are taken.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desertification In Oltenia Oltenia Deserts of Europe Environmental issues in Romania Desertification