The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The Horn of Africa has been hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years, posing a threat to food security to the population in East Africa that is already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today (Friday). In order to scale up the response to the devastating desert locust outbreak in East Africa, OCHA’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released $10 million.
Speaking today to the media at the United Nations in Geneva, OCHA’s spokesperson Jens Laerke said that “the $10 million allocation from CERF will go to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and fund an increase in pesticide aerial spraying operations which, given the scale of the current swarms, is the only effective means to reduce the locust numbers.”
Irregular weather and climate conditions in 2019, including heavy rains between October and December, are suspected to have contributed to the spread of locusts in the region.
“The desert locust is among the most dangerous migratory pests in the world. A single locust can travel 150km and eat its own weight in food – about two grams – each day”,Mr. Laerke said. He added that “a small swarm can consume the equivalent of food for 35,000 people in one day. They reproduce rapidly and, if left unchecked, their current numbers could grow 500 times by June”.
Laerke stressed that “we are trying to address the situation before it becomes extremely bad”.
Major locust outbreaks can be devastating as seen in previous outbreaks which had resulted in major harvest losses.
The outbreak is exacerbating the impacts of climate change already being felt in this region.
In Ethiopia, where floods had already affected the harvest, the locust infestation has destroyed hundreds of square kilometres of vegetation in the Amhara and Tigray regions.
Kenya was hit by back-to-back droughts and then floods in 2019. During the past week a significant and extremely dangerous increase in swarm activity has been seen.
In Somalia, tens of thousands of hectares of land have been affected in Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug (Mudug), and mature swarms are present in the Garbahare area, near the Kenyan border.
“It’s an outbreak that is covering East Africa, the Horn of Africa. It has also been noted in Southwest Asia and the Red Sea, is the worst of its kind in 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia – and it is also the worst Kenya has seen for 70 years”, resumed OCHA’s spokesperson. “The impacts in these countries are particularly acute as pastures and crops are being wiped out in communities that were already facing food shortages”.
- Exterior, Palais des Nations
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- Close up, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The $10 million allocation from CERF will go to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and fund an increase in pesticide aerial spraying operations which, given the scale of the current swarms, is the only effective means to reduce the locust numbers.”
- Close up, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The desert locust is among the most dangerous migratory pests in the world. A single locust can travel 150km and eat its own weight in food – about two grams – each day. A small swarm can consume the equivalent of food for 35,000 people in one day. They reproduce rapidly and, if left unchecked, their current numbers could grow 500 times by June”.
- Medium shot, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “We are trying to address the situation before it becomes extremely bad”.
- Close up, hands
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “It’s an outbreak that is covering East Africa, the Horn of Africa. It has also been noted in Southwest Asia and the Red Sea, is the worst of its kind in 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia – and it is also the worst Kenya has seen for 70 years. The impacts in these countries are particularly acute as pastures and crops are being wiped out in communities that were already facing food shortages”.
- Close up, hands typing
- Medium shot, journalists
- Medium shot, journalist
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.