Green Sahara/Desert Sahara is a cycle that happens.
I've heard people try to claim the garden of eden is a memory of the green sahara, but that's not provable.
I also heard it has an effect on animal evolution - the desert acts as a wall, seperating north and south, then goes green and the two regions' life mingle and compete for a while until it desertification seperates them to evolve independantly of each other until the next green phase.