The large swarm of locusts which hit the Horn of Africa in the Spring of 2020, and cyclone Amphan, which struck the border region of India and Bangladesh in May of that year, might not seem to be connected at first glance. However, a report released on Wednesday by UN University - the academic and research branch of the UN - shows that there were connected underlying causes: greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, coupled with a lack of sufficient disaster risk management.
Two of the people directly affected have shared their stories with the UN: Susan Mumbi Karanja, a farmer from Nyandarua County, Kenya, and Sudhansu Shekhar Maity, who sells stationery in the Indian city of Kolkata.
News.un.org quoted one of the interviewees as saying: “When the locusts came in March 2020, we saw them coming from the hills. There were so many. They attacked all the food: the cabbages, carrots, potatoes, everything that was on the farm. When they came you could not even see the sun. It would get dark. You could not go to work, the cows could not even eat.”
