Category Environtal Studies

Billions of locusts have been swarming through East Africa, particularly Kenya, which saw the worst outbreak in 70 years. They spread from Ethiopia and Somalia. The massive swarms entered Kenya in December and tore through pastureland in the north and centre of the country. Left unchecked, locust numbers could increase 500 times by this June, spreading to Uganda and South Sudan. It could become a plague that will devastate crops and pasture in a region which is already hit by series of droughts and floods. This could lead to a major food security problem, says the UN. The FAO says the current invasion is known as an “upsurge” – when an entire region is affected. However, if it gets worse and cannot be contained, over a year or more, it would become which is known as a “plague” of locusts.

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The current attack began in January 2019. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, which monitors and manages locust invasions, between February and June, widespread breeding in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran caused the formation of large numbers of locust swarms. (These areas reported heavy rains in January.)

Control operations were less successful in Iran and Yemen and swarms invaded the India-Pakistan border between June and December. In India, the monsoon provided a favourable environment for the locusts to multiply. The outbreak began late last year in Gujarat and Rajasthan, where more than 3.5 lakh hectares of crop were affected in various districts. Crops of mustard, cumin and wheat were damaged. But a number of timely measures such as spraying of insecticides and a change in wind direction prevented the spread and larger damage. However, some farmers have lost their entire crops and may need replanting.

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Controlling locust swarms is no easy task. The larger the swarms, the more difficult the task becomes.

• At present, the primary method of controlling desert locust swarms and hopper bands is to use pesticides, which is applied in small concentrated doses by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers. (However, this led to environmental concerns).
• Natural predators such as wasps, birds and reptiles may prove effective at keeping small swarms at bay.
• Other strategies include catching them in nets, driving them away by burning tyres, collecting hoppers with catching machines, trapping them in duties, and other mechanical methods.
• One of the most effective ways to avoid the devastating effects of locust players is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Early warning and preventative control strategies are in place in some places. Locust monitoring stations collect data on weather, ecological conditions and locust numbers, making forecasts of the timing and location of breeding.

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• The desert locust is potentially the most dangerous of the locusts because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great distances. Plagues of the desert locust have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for centuries.
• During quiet periods (known as recessions) the desert locust is usually restricted to the semi-arid and arid deserts of Africa, the Near East and South-West Asia, inhabiting some 30 countries (including India) but during plagues, they may spread over an enormous area of nearly 30 million sq. km., extending over 60 countries.
• According to the National Geographic, a single swarm of the desert locust can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million individuals into less than half-a-square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day.
• The desert locust flies with the wind and swarms can travel from about five to 130 km or more in a day. Solitary adults usually fly at night whereas gregarious adults fly during the day. The locust can live between three and six months, and there is a 10- to 16-fold increase in locust numbers from one generation to the next.

When conditions are right

• The desert locust reproduces and increases in numbers, when conditions are favourable. It needs moist, sandy soil to lay eggs and fresh vegetation for hoppers (nymphs) to grow into adults. A good monsoon is therefore a cause for concern.
• Females lay about 95 to 158 eggs in an egg pod in soft soils at a depth of 10 to 15 cm below the surface. The location needs to be at the night temperature and right degree of dampness.
• Thought it’s still a mystery what triggers solitary insects to become gregarious, scientists have theorised that a primary cause of the switch happens when individuals regularly touch others on the hind legs within populations. When population starts to build up following a period of drought, individuals concentrate in an environment while foraging. As young insects get more crowded, the close physical contact causes the insects’ hind legs to bump against one another. This triggers a change in behaviour, they say.

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The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 and it came into force in 1992. The convention aims to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation, transboundary movements and management of hazardous waste and other waste.

In May 2019, 187 countries agreed to amend the Basel Convention to subject shipments of scrap plastic to tighter controls and greater transparency. Set to come into effect in 2021, this amendment would prohibit nations from exporting hazardous plastic waste to other countries.

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The Southeast Asian importers became swamped with waste posing significant threat to the environment. The sheer quantity of imported scrap not only overwhelmed ports, but also caused a sharp uptick in illegal recycling operations. Illegal recyclers dumped toxic wastewater into waterways and polluted the air with fumes from burning plastic.

These countries began to face backlash from the public and environmental groups, who used officials to permanently ban the import of plastic waste. This made countries send unwanted and contaminated waste back to the countries it came from and to impose new controls.

• In 2018, Malaysia announced bans on imports of plastic scrap by 2021. Malaysia has revoked import permits and has been clamping down on illegal processing plants.
• Thailand has temporarily prohibited plastic waste import.
• Indonesia has restricted the import of non-recyclable waste and Vietnam will bar all imports of plastic scrap by 2025.
• India announced that a ban on import of plastic waste would began in August, 2019.

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