FAO, 2009. Glossary on Desert Locust. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Accessed 10 October 2020.
" }, "editorialNote": { "en": [ "source:UNDRR HIPS" ] }, "scopeNote": { "en": [ "Locusts are defined as belonging to a large group of insects commonly called grasshoppers which are recognisable by the large, thickened hind legs that are used for jumping. All grasshoppers belong to the superfamily Acridoidea, and the most significant species are all in the family Acrididae. Locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they have the ability to change their behaviour, physiology, colour and shape (morphology) in response to changes in their population density. The life cycle of all species of locusts and grasshoppers comprises three stages: egg, hopper, adult (FAO, 2009a). A plague of locusts is defined as a period of one or more years of widespread and heavy locust infestations, the majority of which occur as bands or swarms. A plague can occur when favourable breeding conditions are present and control operations fail to stop a series of local outbreaks from developing into an upsurge that cannot be contained. A major plague exists when two or more regions are affected simultaneously (FAO, 2009a). The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is able to fly long distances and migrate very fast. It is a transboundary pest, whose control requires international collaboration. This is also the case for about a dozen other locust pests, which can produce outbreaks on every continent except Antarctica (FAO, 2015). The Desert Locust is considered the most dangerous migratory pest in the world to threaten crop production and food security. It might be the oldest registered pest for its danger and ability to live and breed under wide-ranging ecological and climatic regimes, in vast areas covering 29 million km2 and extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to India and Pakistan in the east (FAO, 2009a). During plagues, swarms can invade more than 60 of the world’s poorest countries, and potentially damage the livelihood of one tenth of the world’s population, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (FAO, 2015). The worst Desert Locust outbreak in decades is currently underway in the Greater Horn of Africa Region (FAO, 2020a). Tens of thousands of hectares of cropland and pasture have been damaged in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, with potentially severe consequences for agriculture-based livelihoods in contexts where food security is already fragile (FAO, 2020b). Highly mobile and capable of stripping an area’s vegetation, locust swarms can cause large-scale agricultural and environmental damage. Even a relatively small locust swarm can eat the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people. This can be especially devastating in countries facing food security crises, where every gram of food produced counts towards alleviating hunger (FAO, 2020c). Locusts are also serious threats to agriculture in The Caucasus and Central Asia. Three main locust pests, the Asian Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria migratoria), the Italian Locust (Calliptamus italicus) and the Moroccan Locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) jeopardise food security and livelihoods in both regions as well as in adjacent areas of northern Afghanistan and southern Russian Federation. Over 25 million hectares of cultivated areas are potentially at risk. During outbreaks, upsurges and plagues, these pests attack and destroy pasturelands and a wide range of cultivated crops, including cereals, cucurbits, legumes, sunflower, tobacco, vegetables, vines, fruit trees, cotton and other plants. Locusts have a direct impact on agricultural production systems, which are vital to the viability and growth of the concerned countries, which largely rely on agriculture. The most affected populations are often the most vulnerable communities living in the rural areas. Because these are mainly small landowners, following subsistence agriculture, even limited infestations can cause severe damage at this scale and threaten livelihoods, which can in turn, also lead to adverse social consequences (FAO, 2020d). Locusts have a high capacity to multiply, form groups, migrate over relatively large distances (they can fly up to 100 km per day) and settle and breed in various habitats. These capacities enhance their prevalence at the regional level. The borders of countries in The Caucasus and Central Asia are often located across traditional locust habitats and breeding areas, and locusts frequently cross countries’ political borders. As a result, international collaboration is critical for their control. Locusts are becoming increasingly dangerous in the context of extreme weather events associated with climate change, due to their high capacity to exploit new situations. On average, over the past 15 years, locust affected area as large as almost 4 million hectares have been treated annually in Caucasus and Central Asia." ] }, "broader": { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/393411a9-5ec0-4ca6-8c9b-eb20ec22de4b", "prefLabel": { "en": "Insect Pest Infestations" } }, "inScheme": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/", "title": { "en": "Climate Connectivity Taxonomy" } } ], "inSchemeAll": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/" } ], "@context": { "@version": 1.1, "id": "@id", "type": "@type", "@vocab": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#", "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#", "dct": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "schema": "https://schema.org/", "vann": "http://purl.org/vocab/vann/", "ldp": "http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#", "owl": "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#", "title": { "@id": "dct:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:title": { "@id": "dc:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:description": { "@id": "dc:description", "@container": "@language" }, "description": { "@id": "dct:description", "@container": "@language" }, "license": { "@id": "dct:license", "@container": "@language" }, "issued": { "@id": "dct:issued", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "created": { "@id": "dct:created", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "modified": { "@id": "dct:modified", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "creator": "dct:creator", "publisher": "dct:publisher", "preferredNamespacePrefix": "vann:preferredNamespacePrefix", "preferredNamespaceUri": "vann:preferredNamespaceUri", "isBasedOn": "schema:isBasedOn", "source": "dct:source", "prefLabel": { "@container": "@language" }, "altLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "hiddenLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "definition": { "@container": "@language" }, "note": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "changeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "editorialNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "historyNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "scopeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "notation": { "@container": "@set" }, "example": { "@container": "@language" }, "narrower": { "@container": "@set" }, "related": { "@container": "@set" }, "relatedMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowerTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broaderTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broadMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "closeMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "exactMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "hasTopConcept": { "@container": "@set" }, "inScheme": { "@container": "@set" }, "topConceptOf": { "@container": "@set" }, "deprecated": { "@id": "owl:deprecated", "@type": "xsd:boolean" }, "isReplacedBy": { "@id": "dct:isReplacedBy", "@container": "@set" } } }