Biblical warning by nature: Climate change and Locust attacks
By Divya Alex
The Book of Exodus from the Old Testament of the Bible cites the locust attack on Egyptians as a wrath of God after their ruler Pharaoh refused Moses’ demands to free the enslaved Israelites. Are we the pharaohs being warned of the catastrophes waiting to happen for enslaving Mother Nature in the name of “development for all” and empowerment? It feels so.
Recently, millions of locusts swarmed across the states of North and West India. Close to 41 districts spread across five states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have been hit by these large swarms of locusts just before the cropping season due in summer. This is happening after three decades in India. Last time, such unprecedented attacks were reported only in 1974 and 1993. It has created quite a damaging effect for the farmers in rural India who are already bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 induced lockdown and the declining prices of their produce in the last few years.
Locusts, piranhas of the skies are typically short-horned grasshoppers. They can often eat its own body weight in food, which is about 2–2.5 grams. They always fly in large swarms operating as a gigantic eating machine that can decimate crops and farmlands within no time. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, a swarm of locusts spread across an area of one square kilometre can eat as much food as 35,000 people in one day. They breed and grow in number by laying eggs in sacks of 50 to 100 each and are extremely resilient. If there is sufficient moisture in the air, they hatch into a hopper in less than two weeks. Once they grow wings, locusts form swarms that can cover 150 km in a single day. Typically, they reach sexual maturity in three months, which means there can be upto four generations every year. Since they can multiply by a factor of 20 to 100 every generation, swarms can number into billions in a matter of months.
How does climate play a role in the proliferation of such pestilences?
As per India’s Locust Warning Organisation, this attack is untimely and has come in much earlier than usual and reached farther due to fertile breeding grounds. There is a certain link to weather dynamics in the Indian Ocean and an increase in these desert locusts. (Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology) The science revolves around the Indian Ocean Dipole. The weather systems in the Indian Ocean largely depends on an unpredictable natural phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole. Due to the warmer water temperatures in the ocean, warm air filled with moisture tends to rise and condenses into clouds and precipitates in the form of rain. The Indian subcontinent divides the Indian Ocean into two parts: eastern and western parts. The dipole is calculated as the difference of the temperatures between these two portions. When the western part is warmer than the eastern part it creates a positive dipole and vice versa. This dipole historically has been within safe limits however in 2018 it has crossed 2° and is expected to get even worse due to climate change led erratic weather patterns. One of the major reasons for storms and cyclones in the Western part of the Indian Ocean can be attributed to the Indian Ocean dipole being warmer and stronger than usual in the last few years.
In 2018, there were torrential rains in East Africa and the Middle East leading to the formation of lakes in the middle of the desert. Such heavy and moist deserts act as an excellent breeding ground for these desert locusts. These sorts of low-pressure systems and erratic rainfall patterns in arid regions are one of the likely reasons for this locust outbreak. If such weather patterns due to climate change continue and increase in the East African region, it can affect India too as the swarms that are formed in North Somalia in May or June can be carried by the winds across the Indian Ocean to Rajasthan for summer monsoon breeding.
This can have far-reaching consequences in terms of food security and hunger for a large population heavily dependent on agriculture and crops for their livelihoods and subsistence in India. It is, therefore, important to take radical steps to fight climate change as it may exert substantial change in existing ecosystems like in the arid and semi-arid regions which are extremely sensitive and highly vulnerable. Effective and appropriate measures must be taken to prevent any further breeding of the locusts. The governments and international organisations should create a robust mechanism to disseminate information on the emerging climate patterns and ensure preparedness along with timely information and rapid response to tackle the locust infestation.
References
- Soumya Sarkar, June 2020- Climate change favours locust swarms, India increasingly at risk https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/climate-change-favours-locust-swarms-india-increasingly-at-risk/
- https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/climate-change-has-exacerbated-indias-locust-threat/article31750401.ece
- Tina Huang, May 2020- Which Countries Are Most Vulnerable to Locust Swarms?
WRI blog; https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity - Kabir Aggarwal and Shruti Jain, May 2020; Climate Change Brings the Worst Locust Attack in Decades to India https://thewire.in/agriculture/locust-attack-india-jaipur-climate-change
- Richard Munang, United Nations Environment Programme expert on climate and Africa- Locust Swarms and Climate Change https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/locust-swarms-and-climate-change
