DM Monitoring
BEIJING: China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has released special reports on remote sensing data of locust attacks in Pakistan, which according to media reports, can be used to monitor desert locusts and provide early warnings to relevant parties in the country.
“China’s Fengyun series satellites can generate information for analysis of locust-affected area by monitoring rainfall, soil moisture and land surface temperature (LST) changes of the African and South Asian countries,” China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Wednesday.
It said that a hotter and wetter climate favours more multiplication of locusts, and studies have also linked wind direction, speed, and other weather parameters to the migration of locusts, besides, it added that Fengyun satellites were helpful in the assessment of vegetation damage.
According to an update from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the summer breeding of desert locust swarms has commenced in Pakistan’s Tharparkar, Nara and Cholistan deserts where hatching and band formation will increase later this month. Locust swarms ravaged crops and pastureland, destroyed food and vegetation and jeopardised food security across Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of South Asia.
