Arab Spring fallout new threat to Sahel food crisis

The Arab Spring, which saw the overthrow of the Gadaffi regime, is having an unanticipated ripple effect upon the Sahel Region where a food insecurity and nutritional crisis is threatening more than four million children.

Heavy rains in late 2011 and early 2012 have created perfect conditions for infestation. The locusts were first reported in south-east Algeria and south-west Libya in January.  Although governments moved to treat affected areas, insecurity along the Algerian-Libyan border prevented full access. Locusts have since migrated to northern Mali and Niger at the end of May. Swarms have already caused damage to date palms and harvests in the Ténéré Desert in northern Niger. In northern Mali, they cannot be treated due to the current security situation.

Experts have added that locust infestation which was first observed on the Libya/Algeria border has travelled south and is threatening crops and pastures in the Sahel as planting is underway.

“If this is not tackled, it could likely push the 4 million children, currently at risk, over the edge into malnutrition,” said Roland Berehoudougou, West Africa Regional Disaster Risk Manager for the children's organisation, Plan International.

A food shortage, due to lower than normal harvests in 2011, has put more than one million children at risk of severe acute malnutrition and three million children of moderate acute malnutrition. Many children have been taken out of school and sent to work raising the spectre of exploitation and abuse and the need for child protection and education assistance.

"We are therefore reviewing our plans and bracing for an extended emergency response in Niger and Mali. We are watching this development with much fear because the swarms are likely to travel down along the Niger/Nigerian border across fertile agricultural land causing severe damage to growing crops. This is not an annual chronic food shortage. It is a complex emergency of affordable food, conflict, cholera and locust infestation with more than four million children sitting right in the bullseye," he said.

Swarms can contain 40-80 million locusts per square kilometre with some swarms as large as 1200 square kilometres (48-96 billion locusts) eating the equivalent of their own weight of vegetation in a day. The last major infestation in West Africa was in 2004-2005.

Plan International requires US$22 million to respond to this crisis but has a shortfall of $15 million. Its response for the region is focused on child protection, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health for children under five, pregnant women, nursing mothers and families.

Media contacts
Terry Ally
Press Officer, Disasters and Emergencies
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 733 227
Email: terry.ally@plan-international.org

Founded 75 years ago, Plan is one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world.  We work in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty. Plan is independent, with no religious, political or governmental affiliations.   www.plan-international.org