A motorist stops at Kaburu dam in Embu County, Kenya, when a swarm of
locusts invaded the area on January 28, 2020. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |
NMG
Climate change may be powering the swarms of desert locusts that
have invaded eastern Africa,
ravaging crops, decimating pasture and deepening a hunger crisis, locust and climate experts said.
ravaging crops, decimating pasture and deepening a hunger crisis, locust and climate experts said.
Hundreds
of millions of the insects have swept over the Horn of Africa in the
worst outbreak in a quarter of a century, says the United Nations.
By
June, the fast-breeding locusts—already devouring huge swathes of
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia—could grow by 500 times and move into Uganda
and South Sudan.
The hungry swarms threaten to
exacerbate food insecurity in a region where up to 25 million people are
reeling from three consecutive years of droughts and floods, say aid
agencies.
Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting
officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said the
swarms formed after cyclones dumped vast amounts of rain in the deserts
of Oman—creating perfect breeding conditions.
"We know
that cyclones are the originators of swarms—and in the past 10 years,
there's been an increase in the frequency of cyclones in the Indian
Ocean," said Cressman, adding that there were two cyclones in 2018 and
eight in 2019.
"Normally there's none, or maybe one. So this is very unusual.
It's difficult to attribute to climate change directly, but if this
trend of increased frequency of cyclones in Indian Ocean continues, then
certainly that's going to translate to an increase in locust swarms in
the Horn of Africa."
The infestation from the Arabian
peninsula has also hit countries such as India and Pakistan, with
concern growing about new swarms forming in Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan
and Yemen.
Climate scientist Roxy Koll Mathew from the
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune said increased
cyclones were caused by warmer seas, partly attributable to climate
change.
"The West Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea, was warmer than usual during the last two seasons," said Mathew.
"This
is largely due to a phenomenon called Indian Ocean Dipole, and also due
to the rising ocean temperatures associated with global warming."
The
swarms—one reportedly measuring 40 km by 60 km—have already devoured
tens of thousands of hectares of crops, such as maize, sorghum and teff,
and ravaged pasture for livestock.
If not contained,
the potential for destruction is enormous—a locust swarm of a square
kilometre is able to eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000
people, says the FAO.
Authorities are responding with
aerial spraying of pesticides, but experts say the scale of the
infestation is beyond local capacity as desert locusts can travel up to
150 km in a day and multiply at terrifying speeds.
The
UN has appealed to international donors for $70 million in emergency aid
to tackle the infestation and help communities to recover after losing
crops and cattle.
Aid workers said increasingly erratic
weather in east Africa—which saw a prolonged drought followed by heavy
rains in late 2019—was aggravating the infestation.
"This
outbreak was clearly worsened by unusually heavy rains in the region
and there is an interaction with the unusual cyclonic activity," said
Francesco Rigamonti, Oxfam's regional humanitarian coordinator.
"It's
difficult to say that it is due to climate change—but there is an
interaction between the two. What we do know is that we are having a lot
of extreme events like droughts, floods and now locusts in the region,
so we need to be prepared."
—Thomson Reuters Foundation
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