Locust attacks: “It is difficult to attribute a single event to climate change,” WMO said.
The United Nations:
The locust attacks pose a serious threat to food security in parts of East Africa, India and Pakistan due to the changing climatic conditions which may be linked to human activity, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The UN specialized agency said extreme weather events and climate change such as increased temperature and precipitation in desert areas, and strong winds associated with tropical cyclones, provide a new environment for breeding. , development and migration of pests.
Large, aggressive swarms of these short-horned crop-eating insects have recently invaded more than two dozen desert districts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
In Pakistan, authorities declared an emergency in February, saying locust numbers were the worst in more than two decades.
WMO cited an article in Nature Climate Change and said that while desert locusts have been around since biblical times, recent intense epidemics may be linked to anthropogenic climate change and the increased frequency of extreme weather events.
“Attributing a single event to climate change is difficult. However, climatic changes such as increased temperature and precipitation in desert areas and strong winds associated with tropical cyclones, provide a new environment for pest breeding, development and migration.
This suggests that global warming has played a role in creating the conditions necessary for the development, epidemic and survival of locusts, ”said scientists from the Intergovernmental Authority on the Center for Climate Prediction and Applications (ICPAC).
The article cited the role of warming Indian Ocean, intense and unusual tropical cyclones in the region, and heavy rains and floods as playing an important role.
“The recent locust epidemics and the role of warming in the Indian Ocean show that the impact of climate change is not only the consequences of changes in average temperature, but also of the increase in extreme and unprecedented events.
WMO said the first wave of infestations at the end of 2019 destroyed 70,000 ha of farmland in Somalia and Ethiopia, and 2,400 km of pasture in Kenya.
A recent assessment in Ethiopia estimated that between December 2019 and March 2020, locusts damaged 114,000, 41,000 and 36,000 ha of sorghum, maize and wheat respectively, according to ICPAC.
ICPAC, which is a regional climate center of WMO, said locust swarms have been reported over the past 14 days in northern Kenya, eastern and northeastern Ethiopia.
Adult locusts are also in large numbers in areas where hoppers and bands were seen in June, matching the trajectories of migrating swarms.
“This means a continued increase in locust numbers even with control efforts. Adult locusts have been reported in parts of Sudan in more places,” he said.
The climatic conditions conducive to Desert Locust development are predicted to be most appropriate in Uganda, southern eastern Sudan, eastern Ethiopia, northern Somalia and northern Somalia. Kenya.
The Food and Agriculture Organization said new reports of Desert Locust swarms in northern Somalia suggest that migration across the Indian Ocean to summer breeding areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border could be imminent.
He added that the summer breeding has started along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where many swarms are present mainly in Rajasthan.
FAO is the lead Desert Locust surveillance and control agency and operates the Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS). It uses the WMO Global Observing System as input.
