An article titled ‘Q&A: Are the 2019-20 locust swarms linked to climate change?’ by Daisy Dunne in Carbon Brief that discusses the potential link between climate change and the locust outbreak in East Africa and surrounding regions. The article discusses how climate change has influenced heavy rains, unusual storm activity and a change in the ‘Indian Ocean Dipole’ from East Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia to Western Australia. The article further tracks the beginning and spread of the outbreak causing mass crop failure.
Students will learn about how climate change potentially led to the mass breeding and outbreak of desert locusts in East Africa and surrounding regions. They will also learn about how changing weather patterns, rising sea temperatures and altered oceanic currents can provide breeding grounds for desert locusts. Students will further learn about what makes desert locusts resilient, allowing them to migrate and cause mass crop failure in many countries.
Use this tool to help your students find answers to:
What countries were affected by the locust plague of 2019-20?
What weather conditions are favourable for locust breeding?
Is climate change responsible for the current locust outbreak? Discuss.
How is the locust plague causing food insecurity in some countries?
About the tool:
Tool Name
Q&A: Are the 2019-20 locust swarms linked to climate change?
Discipline
Environmental Sciences
Topic(s) in Discipline
Locust Plague, Desert Locust, Food Security, Species Migration, Agriculture
Climate Topic
Climate Change and Food Security; Climate and Agriculture
Type of tool
Reading
Grade Level
High School, Undergraduate
Location
Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, India, Pakistan
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
