The Sahara Desert is a hyper-arid ecoregion spanning the central belt of North Africa between 18° N and 30° N latitude, classified by the World Wide Fund for Nature as one of several desert and xeric shrubland zones across the northern continent.
This core region represents the driest heart of the broader Sahara, a landscape where extreme aridity shapes every aspect of the environment. As an ecoregion, it forms part of a mosaic of interconnected desert systems that define northern Africa’s ecological character. The classification recognises the Sahara not simply as empty sand but as a distinct biological community adapted to some of the planet’s harshest conditions. Understanding these ecoregion boundaries helps conservationists and researchers map biodiversity, track climate patterns, and measure how desert systems respond to environmental change across continental scales.
