Locust
Desert Locust situation update 1 December 2008
Legend: 
adults groups 
swarms 
hoppers 
bands
Breeding in progress in NW Mauritania and starting in Eritrea
The current Desert Locust situation remains calm and there is no threat to crops. Nevertheless, caution is required because breeding could occur in areas of previous heavy rains and flooding in Western Sahara, northern Mauritania and eastern Yemen.
In West Africa, small-scale breeding continues in northwest Mauritania where solitarious hoppers and adults are present. A few small hopper groups formed and ground control operations were carried out south of Akjoujt. Limited breeding has occurred in parts of Western Sahara where heavy rains fell in late September and early October. More breeding is expected this month there and in adjacent areas in northern Mauritania. Elsewhere, local breeding occurred in southern Algeria near Mali and low numbers of adults remain in northeast Chad between Arada and Fada.
In the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea, small-scale breeding has started on the coast of Eritrea and is expected to commence shortly on the coast of Saudi Arabia and Yemen where locust adults are already present as well as on the coast of Sudan. No significant developments are likely.
The situation remains calm in southwest Asia where scattered adults are present in the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan near the border of Rajasthan, India.
Source: FAO Desert Locust Information Service Copyright: © FAO, 2004