Desert Locusts Joint Response - Lead

The current locust crisis in the Horn of Africa is the worst outbreak of locusts in over 25 years in Ethiopia and Somalia and the worst observed in over 70 years in Kenya. The situation rapidly deteriorated in January 2020 as weather conditions have been unusually conducive to the spread of the pest. These conditions will allow breeding until June 2020 and could lead to 500 times more locusts, with the formation of large numbers of swarms. Desert locusts are expected to continue to breed and spread during the coming months. Given their life cycle, the March-April start of the long rains, coinciding with a regeneration of rangeland and the start of planting activities, will enable a new wave of breeding and further spread of the pest. Desert locusts have already reached northern Uganda, and looking forward, the infestation could: 1) spread further into the Rift Valley (especially in Ethiopia), as well as to South Sudan, 2) affect the 2020 main and secondary staple cropping seasons, and 3) continue to affect rangeland across the region. The desert locust is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world as it is highly mobile and feeds on large quantities of any kind of green vegetation, including crops, pasture and fodder. A typical swarm can be made up of 150 million locusts per square kilometre and is carried on the wind, up to 150 km in one day. Even a very small, 1 km2 locust swarm (approx. 40 million desert locusts) can eat the same amount of food in one day as about 35 000 people. This can be especially devastating in areas where food security is poor and, where every gram of food produced counts towards minimizing gaps in a family’s food consumption. Currently, the region faces widespread food insecurity. In Ethiopia, an estimated 8.5 million people are severely food insecure, Phase 3 and above, according to IPC between February and June 2020. In Somalia, from February to September 2020, the population in IPC Phases 3 (Crisis) and 4 (Emergency) is expected to rise by 40 percent, from 1.1 million to 1.6 million people. Drivers of this food insecurity include climate shocks, conflict, and macroeconomic crises. Ethiopia has been responding to the current swarm invasions since July 2019. To date, hopper bands have covered more than 429 km² of the country. Two generations of breeding have caused large numbers of swarms to form and move to Kenya and Somalia. In January 2020, the swarms were also seen moving towards the Rift Valley in Ethiopia and Kenya’s breadbasket. This would pose a serious threat, especially as Ethiopia already has an estimated 8.5 million people facing severe food insecurity. In Somalia, where 6.7 million people are now regarded as acutely food insecure (IPC Phase 2 and above), swarms bred in the north of the country and have moved mainly to central and southern regions. The pest is affecting pasture and threatening staple food crops in rural areas. Insecurity and a lack of national capacity have hampered control operations. The Somalia Food Security Cluster showed their findings in a presentation; the number of people affected was shown as over 2.5 million (21% of Somalia’s population) and especially pastoralist, agro-pastoralist, riverine and IDPs are affected. COVID-19 In light of the global pandemic of COVID-19, on 25 March 2020, the United Nations launched a USD 2 billion Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP). On 3 February, WHO also launched a Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP). The following responses, corresponding with a locust crisis response, must be accelerated or scaled up to achieve Strategic Priorities 2 and 3 of the Covid-19 HRP: - Food and nutrition assistance as well as rural livelihood support to food-insecure and malnourished people vulnerable to the infection particularly in countries experiencing food crises. - Scale-up of social assistance systems, and cash transfer programmes with complementary livelihood assistance (including adaptations for remote digital trade/marketing), particularly for rural crop and livestock workers and producers, small/medium businesses, refugees, IDPs, migrants and host populations, and other food-insecure population groups. The Somalia section of the Covid-19 HRP mentions under the most affected and at-risk population groups that the pandemic could also heavily impact vulnerable communities living in areas dealing with food insecurity and desert locusts, while Ethiopia section mentions that COVID-19 response will undermine efforts to combat desert locust infestations. While people’s lives are threatened by the COVID-19 outbreak, the upcoming two agricultural production seasons are threatened by desert locust infestations. The number of COVID-19 cases reported in both Somalia (237) and Ethiopia (111) as of 20-04-2020 is still relatively low (also due to underreporting). Yet, the countries follow government restrictions and the response is designed with integrated COVID-10 measures.