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FAO / DESERT LOCUST FUNDING
STORY: FAO / DESERT LOCUST FUNDING
TRT: 2:38
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 JANUARY 2020, ROME, ITALY
30 JANUARY 2020, ROME, ITALY
1. Wide shot, conference room
2. Wide shot, participants
3. Pan right, meeting stakeholders
4. Close up, participants
5. Close up, participant taking notes
6. Wide shot, meeting stakeholders
7. SOUNDBITE (English) QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“I hope we can get some money, some resources, at this critical time, before March. It’s a very critical time.”
8. Tilt down, screen to stakeholders
9. Close up, participants asking question
10. Med shot, Keith Cressman answering question
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Keith Cressman, Senior Agricultural Officer, Plant Production And Protection Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“So, this is a very rare phenomenon, but once it does occur it becomes extremely threatening to food security, livelihoods, pastures and of course with pastures if herders have to move animals into new areas, this can be sources of conflict.”
12. Close up, participant flipping through book about locusts
13. Med shot, participant typing on laptop
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Bukar Tijani, Assistant Director-General, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“FAO is not the one doing the control. FAO is supporting the countries, the efforts of the countries to control and manage locusts or any other pests or diseases in the region and elsewhere and this is what we are exactly doing.”
15. Wide shot, participants
16. Med shot, participant writing on notepad
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Bukar Tijani, Assistant Director-General, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“What we did with the authorities in Kenya is to assess the situation and I must say that the government of Kenya has done a lot, Ethiopia has done a lot, in terms of what to do with the control. Here, we have gaps in terms of aircrafts, protective gears and most importantly on the health aspect; sanitization and awareness creation of the population.”
18. Wide shot, stakeholders with video playing in background
19. Close up, video screen
20. Wide shot, participants
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today the Desert Locust upsurge in the Horn of Africa threatened to provoke a humanitarian crisis and appealed for urgent funding to tackle the outbreak in order to protect livelihoods and food security.
The locust outbreak is the worst to strike Ethiopia and Somalia for 25 years and the worst infestation that Kenya had experienced in 70 years. Djibouti and Eritrea are now being affected.
FAO has already mobilized 15.4 million USD of the 76 million USD requested for the five countries but expected the needs to rise amid concern that the outbreak would spread to other countries, in particular South Sudan and Uganda.
Qu told an informal briefing of FAO Member States' representatives at the UN agency's Rome headquarters on Thursday (30 Jan) that it has mobilized staff and resources to tackle the worsening outbreak and was working closely with governments and partners in a region where food security was already very fragile. He said timing and location is crucial and hoped to get more resources mobilized before March.
The Desert Locust is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world and a small swarm covering one square kilometre can eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.
Pasture and croplands have already suffered damage in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and there are potentially severe consequences for the region where nearly 12 million people are coping with severe acute food insecurity and many rely on agriculture for their survival.
SOUNDBITE (English) Keith Cressman, Senior Agricultural Officer, Plant Production And Protection Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“So, this is a very rare phenomenon, but once it does occur it becomes extremely threatening to food security, livelihoods, pastures and of course with pastures if herders have to move animals into new areas, this can be sources of conflict.”
FAO experts are on the ground, supporting control operations and initiating efforts to safeguard livelihoods, particularly of those already experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.
According to FAO's latest update on the Desert Locust upsurge, the current situation will be further worsened by breeding activity that will produce new locust infestations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
FAO is working closely with these countries as well as their neighbours, Djibouti and Eritrea, while monitoring Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen for any developments.
SOUNDBITE (English) Bukar Tijani, Assistant Director-General, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“FAO is not the one doing the control. FAO is supporting the countries, the efforts of the countries to control and manage locusts or any other pests or diseases in the region and elsewhere and this is what we are exactly doing.”
FAO's Desert Locust Information Service says the situation is extremely alarming and will be further exacerbated by new infestations expected in early April.
In Kenya alone, large swarms, up to 60 km long and 40 km wide, invaded all the country's northern counties and some central areas in less than a month, causing substantial damage to crops and livestock deprived of pastureland. A total of 13 counties have so far been affected in Kenya.
SOUNDBITE (English) Bukar Tijani, Assistant Director-General, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“What we did with the authorities in Kenya is to assess the situation and I must say that the government of Kenya has done a lot, Ethiopia has done a lot, in terms of what to do with the control. Here, we have gaps in terms of aircrafts, protective gears and most importantly on the health aspect; sanitization and awareness creation of the population.”
A new generation of locusts is expected to hatch in February and with new swarms expected in early April that would coincide with the next season of planting. At that time, the seasonal winds will have shifted to the north, which is likely to allow the newly formed swarms in Kenya to reinvade Ethiopia and Somalia as well as to migrate to new areas of South Sudan and Sudan.
The rise in numbers is causing serious concern about the swarms in northern Kenya as they are only 200 kilometres from the country's borders with South Sudan and Uganda. Both countries last faced locust invasions in 1961.
The Desert Locust upsurge represents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods and has the potential to become a regional plague that could lead to further suffering and displacement.
In South Sudan, where food insecurity is already at an emergency level in many parts of the country, the Desert Locusts could wipe out pastures and crops causing the deterioration of an already alarming situation.
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