Tuesday, 2 June 2020

A potential death toll to dwarf that of Covid-19

Vast swathes of crops from Chad in the west to India in the east have been stripped by locust swarms. The trouble started in summer of last year. The trigger, of exceptionally wet weather, is probably the result of global warming but an aggravating factor has been the continuing conflict in Yemen (to which the UK is contributing) preventing eradication measures.

Death from starvation is not as dramatic as that caused by disease. However, so many people are dependent on a single crop, and probably just one annual harvest of that crop, for their survival, that in the end more lives will be lost than will be taken by the corona virus. Probably a majority will be Commonwealth citizens, which makes the avoidance of the issue by the BBC and the House of Commons open to criticism.

The current situation as reported by the international Food and Agriculture Organisation is here. At least the FAO is one UN member organisation which the US has not left.


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