Over the course of a single day, a swarm of locusts can consume enough crops to feed 34 million people. Since the start of 2020, actual billions of locusts have descended upon East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Middle East. It’s threatening to plunge the area into famine. (1,2)
Cyclone of Locusts
Although the devastating number of locusts has only been so catastrophic for the past couple of months, the root causes can be traced back to 2018. Two cyclones created a series of mini lakes in the desert area of the Arabian Peninsula. This area, known as the “Empty Quarter,” is an uninhabited space where there’s nothing to stop the locusts breeding and growing their numbers. Between mid-2018, when the cyclones hit this area, and mid-2019 when they began to travel, there were three generations—and 8 thousand times more locusts than were there originally. The broods swept into Ethiopia and Somalia—which were plagued by fall rains and a December cyclone season of their own. The locusts multiplied again. Then they continued on their destructive path towards East Africa. Kenya, one of the afflicted countries, hasn’t seen this number of locusts in 70 years. Yet they keep moving, eating, destroying. (3)
Climate of Locusts
Yet, although the cyclones of 2018 set this wave off, they aren’t the product of freak accidents. The cyclones are caused by the drastic rise in sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean Dipole. If the dipole isn’t familiar, you may be surprised to know that it’s actually linked to another tragic crisis in the past year—the Australian Bushfires. What causes the spikes in temperature? The same thing that cause most extreme temperature fluctuations these days—climate change. If the world doesn’t take action to fight climate change, the temperatures will continue to increase. Locust swarms that dwarf this one could be waiting in the future. (3)
Harvest of Locusts
Planting season starts in the region in April—but East Africa won’t dry off until June. This leads to a dangerous situation where the locusts may be feeding on the growing crops. Esther Kithuka, a Kenyan farmer, explains. “We worry that the locusts will destroy our harvest and we will end up remaining hungry throughout the rest of the year, waiting for October, when we have the next cropping season.” The Director of Emergencies from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, Dominique Burgeon, shares similar concerns. She says, “it’s time for the international community to understand that it’s an issue that needs to be dealt with now. Otherwise …there will be [a] million more people that will require food assistance and it will take us years to control the situation.”
But, unfortunately, yet another crisis of 2020 has impeded the ability of the international community to actually help. Because of COVID-19, international experts cannot come into the country to offer their help, and large groups within the country cannot meet for training.
“It is always very difficult to find and treat all infestations, and this is the nature and challenge of managing Desert Locust,” says Senior Locust Forecasting Officer Keith Cressman. This year will perhaps be more challenging than any other. (1,2, 4)
