Page 20 - Nile Explorer Issue 007

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T he Eastern and Horn of Africa, one sometimes, as is happening currently, – some farther up on the Arabian Penin-

of the world's most impoverished afflicting many countries with crop
sula, and some into nearby Yemen.
regions, is being devoured by billions of destruction. From there, they eventually traveled
locusts, and invasion that threaten the The locust is a pest that has been around across the gulf and into Ethiopia and
food security of the entire region, much for eons and eons of time and has so Somalia.
of it already devastated by insecurity. many different survival mechanisms to When another cyclone hit Ethiopia and
Farmers look on in horror as desert survive in some of the harshest areas, Somalia in early December 2019, this
locusts moving in vast cloud-like and particularly in most remote parts of further fueled the locust populations
swarms darken the sky. The insects blast the planet. Locusts have the capacity to aggravating the situation into one that
through fields of crops at an astonishing take advantage of the most adverse became very as being seen in Kenya,
pace, decimating livelihoods in the weather conditions to move from one when the swarms arrived.
process. part of the planet to another, crossing The swarms already crossed over into

The pests crossed the Gulf of Aden and over the seas. In mid-2018, a group of Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan, as
arrived in Somalia and Ethiopia last these pests found themselves in excel- well as in Persian Gulf countries such as
year. They crossed over into in Kenya at lent conditions when a cyclone from the Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Iran. Secu-
the beginning of the year, sweeping Indian Ocean hit an extremely remote rity issues complicate efforts to stave off
through the north of the country, in area of the Arabian Peninsula known as the infestations, particularly in parts of
what has become the worst infestation the "Empty Quarter." According to Somalia. In January, the FAO asked the
there in 70 years. The U.N. says the experts, that was enough trigger that international community for $76
region is already vulnerable to food desert locusts needed in order to lay million to fight the locusts in Ethiopia,
shortages, and it warns that the interna- their eggs and to breed. The animals Somalia and Kenya as well as in newly
tional community only has a small reproduce rapidly – every three months. affected countries Djibouti and Eritrea.
window to prevent "looming catastro- And they reproduce exponentially, so in The U.N. organization says that as of
phe." favorable conditions like the current Friday, $22 million has been pledged or
weather condition in the Horn and
Desert locusts, or Schistocerca gregaria, Eastern Africa, the population could donated so far.
are known for their rapid reproduction multiply by 400 times every six months. Right now, the locusts are actively
and ability to migrate long distances Typically, the Empty Quarter would dry breeding in Kenya, which could lead to a
with the wind. They typically incubate out and the population would largely 20-fold increase in populations in the
within deserts in Africa, the Near East die off, unfortunately, in late 2018, second quarter of the year— a delicate
and Asia, where they stay without much another cyclone hit in nearly the same period when farmers are expected to be
havoc– however, for reasons associated spot and the population exploded yet planting for the long rains—depending
with climatic changes, they have been again, with the insects started migrating on the conditions. Depending on condi-
known to travel over long distances,
20 | The Nile Explorer 006