Podcast: The boom and burst of desert locust in Northeast Africa

 

Much of East Africa and especially the Horn of Africa is currently battling one of the worst desert locust swarm invasions yet to be witnessed. It is threatening food security and putting livelihoods of millions at risk. All efforts are further juxtaposed by current lockdowns and flight restrictions aimed at combatting the spread of corona virus (COVID-19). Particularly, delays in pesticide deliveries will further derail efforts to control the pest. While the global health pandemic is exerting pressure on healthcare systems, affected countries are looking at a dire future potentially plagued by food shortage.

The first wave of the desert locust is said to have been caused by wet weather and two rare cyclones in 2018 that affected East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, causing heavy rains and a fertile ground for the locusts to breed freely and extensively. In 2019 activities to combat the spread of the locust invasion were deployed in Yemen and Somalia but the breeding still continued. By January 2020, the first and deadliest wave of the locust invasion experienced in 70 years in Kenya erupted. In Ethiopia and Somalia, the outbreak is the worst yet as experienced in 25 years. In the following weeks the invasion was also observed in northeastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. The desert locust multiply by 20 every three months and can easily consume 200 tons of vegetation per day.

While weather patterns enabling the breeding of the locusts might be barely predictable, proper surveillances and management system that offer preventive solutions to locust infestation could nip off the problem at its onset before an outbreak occurs. In our first podcast episode, CRC’s project B02 ‘Future Infections‘ principle investigator, Christian Borgemeister, discusses how African countries can prevent and manage the invasion of desert locust.

In the episode he explains the boom and burst cycle of locusts’ invasions which implies a substantial challenge for managing locusts. While management practices such as research, expertise, surveillance systems receive widespread attention and funding during phases of boom, times of little invasions little efforts to manage locusts are maintained marginalizing both research and preparatory measures. Moreover, volatile political situations present great challenges in accessing the recession areas where the locust start the swarm formation.

Borgemeister’s project team investigates the impact of social-ecological transformations and land-use changes on the dynamics of arthropod-transmitted infectious viral diseases in north-eastern Namibia and Kenya. Carrying the risk of catastrophic outbreaks, vector-borne diseases hold a large potential to shape future-making in rural Africa. Additionally, Borgemeister is also the Executive Director of Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (Center for Development Research).

 

More CRC News

portrait image of clemens greiner

Clemens Greiner Appointed Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape

Clemens Greiner, researcher in Project C02 Energy Futures, Academic Coordinator of the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) and adjunct Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the ...
Read More »
Group of researchers during a visit to the Bonn Heritage Lab

Exploring Decolonial Heritage: A Visit to the Global Heritage Lab

In June, a group of Future Rural Africa researchers visited the Global Heritage Lab in Bonn. The Global Heritage Lab is a research hub and ...
Read More »
image of ruth hall, prof. at the university of the western cape

Ruth Hall Appointed Director of PLAAS

Ruth Hall, Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa, has been appointed Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and ...
Read More »
map of green hydrogen infrastructure in southern Africa

Planning the Future: Comparing Green Hydrogen Strategies in Chile, Namibia, and South Africa

In their publication, Benedikt Walker and Britta Klagge (Project C02 Energy Futures) alongside Ravn Haid (University of Bonn) examine how spatial planning influences the development ...
Read More »
picture of a field with kale

Call for Workshop Scholarships: Transdisciplinary RLC Workshop on Rural Development and Smallholder Agriculture

The RLC Campus at ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany, offers scholarships for PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America, who are currently studying at ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top