In the past few months, numerous countries in the eastern part of Africa have been suffering severely from the plague of desert locusts. The FAO claims that locusts in Africa are continuously reproducing and predicts that there will be more new groups, worsening the current plague. Among the areas struck by the locusts, the situation in southern Ethiopia, northern and central Kenya and north-eastern Somalia are more serious. Unfortunately, the locust swarms are continuing to spread into other places in Africa, even into Western and Southern Asia: mature swarms were found in places such as north-eastern Uganda, bordering Kenya, and south-eastern South Sudan; Pakistan and India are under the attack of the pests; nearly 400 billion locusts are moving toward to the border of China.
近几个月来，非洲东部多国遭受严重的沙漠蝗虫灾害。联合国粮农组织称，非洲地区的蝗虫正在不断繁殖，预计未来将继续形成新的蝗虫群，进一步加剧灾情。其中，埃塞俄比亚南部、肯尼亚北部和中部、索马里东北部地区受灾更为严重。此外，蝗虫群还在继续向非洲其他地区、甚至向西亚和南亚蔓延：与肯尼亚相邻的乌干达东北部地区、南苏丹东南部地区等发现了成熟的蝗虫群；巴基斯坦、印度遭受蝗虫群侵袭；接近4000亿只蝗虫正逼近中国边境。
Cause
起因
Large swarms are caused by the climate change. Desert locusts are mainly distributed in the subtropical deserts of North Africa, Middle East and South-western Asia. They are born to be timid and to live alone. However, when unusual rainfalls occur in one place, the dormant plants in the desert will thrive abruptly, which provide a chance for the locusts feeding on them to expand wantonly.
庞大的蝗虫群是由气候变化引起的。沙漠蝗虫主要分布在北非、中东和西南亚的亚热带沙漠地带。它们本是独居动物，生性胆小。不过，当一个地区出现异常降雨，休眠的植物在沙漠里骤然生长，就为以此为食的蝗虫提供了大肆扩张的契机。
Harm
危害
The crime culprit that caused the plague, called "desert locust", is regarded as one of the most devastating migratory pests in the world. It can fly 150 km per day windward and stay alive as long as about 3 months.
造成此次东非蝗灾的元凶“沙漠蝗虫”，被认为是世界上最具破坏力的迁徙性害虫之一，每天可以随风飞行150公里，存活时间三个月左右。
It is estimated that desert locusts consume the equivalent of their body weight each day. Almost all crops and non-crop plants are eaten. It is reported that one-square-kilometer locust swarm can eat the same amount of food in one day as about 35000 people. Thus they are call “The mobile harvester for crops”. Besides, their ability to reproduce is also surprising. It is predicted that in 3 months the amount of the locusts will increase by 20 times，400 times in 6 months and 8000 times in 9 months. Apart from the large group and quick speed of eating, the swarms are pretty well self-defended. When attacked by their natural enemies, they will release a chemical called hydrocyanic acid, which is highly toxic.
据测算，一只沙漠蝗虫一天可以吃掉相当于它们体重分量的食物。几乎所有的农作物，和非农作物，都是它们的美餐。据悉，占地一平方公里的蝗虫群一天可吃掉3.5万人的口粮。它们被称为“移动粮食收割机”。 沙漠蝗虫的繁殖能力也十分惊人，据推测，沙漠蝗虫的数量在三个月后将增加20倍，6个月后增加400倍，9个月后增加8000倍。除了种群大和进食速度快，群居飞蝗还具有强大的自我保护能力，在遭受天敌攻击时，会释放出剧毒物质氢氰酸。
According to the FAO, the infestation “presents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa.” This year, due to the plague, Somalia and Ethiopia have declared a total stop in agriculture. The swarms sweeping across parts of India and Pakistan have impacted up to 370000 hectares of farmland, causing the loss of billions of rupees. Furthermore, it will probably lead to a 30％-50％ decrease in crop production in Pakistan.
联合国粮农组织称，蝗虫侵袭对非洲之角的粮食安全和人民生计构成了前所未有的威胁。今年，由于蝗灾影响，索马里和埃塞俄比亚已宣布农业生产完全停滞。在印巴部分地区肆虐的蝗虫，影响农田总面积达37万公顷，造成上百亿卢比的损失，还可能造成巴基斯坦粮食减产30％—50％。
Solutions
解决办法
The best strategy to solve the problem is to establish an integrated system monitoring the locusts for early warning and preventive control and maintain ecological balance.
治理蝗灾，最主要的方法是防患于未然，即建立一套用于预警和预防的完整的蝗虫监测体系和维护生态平衡。
The following one is using chemicals. What is used frequently is spraying organophosphorus with the help of cars and agricultural airplanes. But this time, because of the general poverty in African countries, extremely limited amount of chemicals is used in practice. For instance, Uganda can only dispatch 2 planes, while Kenya does a bit better, 3 more. In the areas like Somalia, which are in political turmoil, spraying chemicals on a massive scale is far more difficult to carry out. Therefore, the UN appeals to close cooperation worldwide, raising emergency funds for stopping the swarms from spreading and developing.
其次便是化学药品灭蝗。主要使用汽车和农用飞机施用有机磷化学品。但在此次蝗灾中，由于非洲国家的普遍贫困，化学药剂的使用非常有限。举例来说，乌干达只能出动两架农用飞机灭蝗，而肯尼亚也仅能出动五架。在索马里等政局动荡地区，大规模喷洒化学药剂更是难以推进。因此，联合国呼吁国际社会密切合作，募集治理蝗灾的应急金。
About China
有关中国
China’s group for preventing and controlling locusts carried out scientific researches in Pakistan for 10 days. The experts think that severe as the plague in Pakistan is, it is not likely that the locusts will spread into China. The plague taking place in Pakistan is in the zones of tropical and subtropical deserts, which do not even exist in China. From the angel of history, China don’t have a record of plague of desert locusts. At the same time, researches indicate that the only way for the swarms to move eastward and get access to China, is flying across India and Burma, and finally arrive in Yunnan province, China. That is already difficult. If they were able to do that, they cannot march southward anymore——Thanks to the natural block brought by Kunlun mountains and Himalayas, it is fairly hard for the locusts to move in cross them. Additionally, the ecological environment and climate in cold areas and some with high humidity are unsuitable for locusts to survive.
中国蝗灾防治工作组在巴基斯坦进行了为期10天的科考调研。工作组认为，巴基斯坦的沙漠蝗灾较为严重，但飞到我国的可能性很小。巴基斯坦的蝗灾发生在热带和亚热带的沙漠地区，我国没有适合的自然环境。从历史记录看，中国也没有沙漠蝗成灾记录。同时，研究认为，沙漠蝗虫群东移进入中国的唯一方式，是飞越印度和缅甸到达中国云南省。这已经非常困难。即使到达云南也无法再继续北上。因昆仑山脉、喜马拉雅山脉的阻隔，沙漠蝗很难越过高海拔的山脉迁入。寒冷地区和一些高湿地区的生态环境和气候也不适宜沙漠蝗的生存。
China is rich in experience of stopping the locust plague. Besides chemicals, Chinese take biological method. They use sturnus roseus, ducks and so on, to wipe the locusts out when their wings haven’t sprouted completely and when they are not that harmful. Compared with the chemicals, it is both low in cost and friendly to the environment.
我国面对蝗灾经验丰富。除了使用化学药品灭蝗，中国还采取了生物办法，即利用粉红椋鸟和鸭子等，在蝗虫翅膀尚未长成、危害不大时进行捕杀。与化学药剂相比，这既降低了灭蝗成本，又减少了环境污染。
Facing the plague of desert this time, the priority for China is to use the real-time dynamic monitoring. On the one hand, for the change of weather, which can lead to an increase in the possibility of locusts’ coming; on the other hand, China is supposed to maintain keen vigilance at the invasion of other types of locusts. Professors from CAU warn that although currently it doesn’t seem that the desert locusts will come, the possibility of the visits of calliptamus italicus and migratory locusts from Central Asia and the Caucasus. China should be well prepared.
面对此次蝗灾，我国要做好的首先是实时动态监测。一方面监测天气变化，这可能会导致蝗虫进入我国的概率变高；另一方面要高度警惕其他类型蝗虫的威胁。中国农大的相关教授称，虽然当前沙漠蝗进入我国的风险较小，但不排除中亚和高加索地区的意大利蝗、飞蝗进入我国的可能性。中国要对此做好充分准备。
Translator: Zhang Boya
Time: 2020-03-08
