Liberian Armyworm Plague

The Liberian Armyworm Plague 2009 was a mass reproduction of caterpillars that occurred at the turn of the year 2008/2009 in the West African states of the Mano River Union - Liberia and Guinea . In January 2009, the tropical butterfly species Spodoptera exempta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ) - known in Africa as the African Armyworm - was reported to have caused the calamity ; However, a review revealed the butterfly species Achaea catocaloides (also from the owl butterfly family) as the actual cause.

So far, there have only been speculations about the causes of the mass increase.

meaning

The Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf assessed the situation as particularly critical with regard to the hygienic conditions (collapse of the regional drinking water supply) and the economic damage.

As a basis for relief through government and international aid projects has been in the affected areas first State of Emergency (: German National Emergency ) proclaimed. This emergency allows the government, which is under the supervision of the World Bank because of the high level of foreign debt and insolvency , access to special financial funds for crisis management . To combat the government asked for the FAO to be allowed in the affected counties potent pesticides to be allowed to use, since the proliferation of the caterpillars had led to a destruction of the crop already in three counties. Over 20,000 people had to temporarily leave their villages. The excrement secreted by the caterpillars was found in the drinking water of the rural regions and had triggered allergic diseases .

prehistory

The area affected by the disaster is in northern Liberia, in the counties of Nimba , Bong and Lofa . In these three provinces, during the Second Liberian Civil War, the focus of the fighting between the civil war parties was initially. As a result, refugee camps with a total of around 300,000 internally displaced persons were set up near the border, as well as further refugee camps with another 50,000 refugees in the border region of Guinea. The humanitarian situation in the refugee camps is facilitated by aid programs, the resettlement programs and the reconstruction of the war-torn economy in the affected counties are still stagnating due to a lack of funding. Agriculture is the mainstay of the Liberian economy and mostly includes peasant self-sufficiency, it serves the regional supply. An economically important domestic trade could not be established in Liberia due to the poor transport situation. In the rainy season, road traffic collapses because the roads are impassable. The cross-border trade in agricultural products with the neighboring states of Guinea and Sierra Leone is of great economic importance for Liberia.

Effects

As a result of the pest infestation, a large part of the harvest of staple foods and the plantation crops grown for world trade (coffee, cocoa, bananas, pineapples - so-called cash crops ) were destroyed. For the incumbent Johnson-Sirleaf government, this situation, comparable to a natural disaster, meant another serious domestic political stress test that could be overcome with the help of the international community.

literature

Haggis, MJ Distribution of the African armyworm, Spodoptera exempta (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and the frequency of larval outbreaks in Africa and Arabia . In: Bulletin of Entomological Research 76 (1986) pp 151-170.
Anelia Milbrandt: Assessment of Biomass Resources in Liberia . In: National Renewable Energy Laboratory NREL (Ed.): Technical Report . NREL / TP-6A2-44808. Golden, CO 2009, p. 46 (English, full text [PDF; 3.7 MB ]).

Individual evidence

↑ Severe Outbreak of Defoliating Caterpillars in Liberia - SPECIAL BULLETIN N ° M01 / 09 February 2009. (PDF; 211 kB) (No longer available online.) AGRHYMET Regional Center Niamey (Niger), February 2009, p. 2 , formerly in the original ; accessed on January 28, 2011 (English): “In January 2009, fifty five Liberian localities were infested by significantly cant defoliating caterpillar populations. Confronted with this plague, the Liberian government declared a state of emergency and solicited support from the International Community. Therefore, international (FAO) and regional (CILSS and ECOWAS) Institutions conducted missions to provide technical support to Liberia. The insect was identified as Achaea catocaloides Guenee. It is a pest known since 1925 but not much studied. "
↑ Karen Lange: Nightmarish Caterpillar Swarm Defies Control in Liberia. National Geographic , February 4, 2009, accessed on January 28, 2011 (English): “During the dry season, a strong wind called the harmattan blows from the Sahara across West Africa. Perhaps in late 2008, this wind picked up Achaea catocaloides moths and then deposited a large concentration along the Guinea-Liberia border. Or perhaps there was an unnoticed local increase in Achaea catocaloides numbers and, when the temperature was right, the population exploded, said Gregory Tarplah, an entomologist with Liberia's Ministry of Agriculture. "
^ The Constitution of the Republic of Liberia. 1986, accessed on January 28, 2011 (English, Chapter IX "Emergency Powers", Article 86b): "A state of emergency may be declared only where there is a threat or outbreak of war or where there is civil unrest affecting the existence, security or well-being of the Republic amounting to a clear and present danger. "
↑ The Armyworm attacks West Africa. Der Standard (Vienna), January 29, 2009, accessed on January 28, 2011 : "Liberia and neighboring countries are fighting with caterpillar invasion - agricultural pests eat whole areas bare and contaminate drinking water"
↑ Q&A: Caterpillars ravage Liberia. BBC News , January 27, 2009, accessed January 19, 2011 .
^ Liberia faces second worm wave. BBC News, January 29, 2009, accessed January 28, 2011 .
↑ IDP and Refugee Returns as of April 2006. (PDF) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), October 22, 2002, accessed on August 1, 2010 (English, refugee camps according to location and occupancy).
↑ Anelia Milbrandt: Assessment of Biomass Resources in Liberia . NREL / TP-6A2-44808, 2009, Agricultural Resources, p. 3 f .
↑ Anelia Milbrandt: Assessment of Biomass Resources in Liberia . NREL / TP-6A2-44808, 2009, Figure 1. Food Crop Residues in Liberia by County, p. 5 .
^ ^A ^b Jean-Martin Bauer (et al): Cross-border trade and food security. (PDF) World Food Program Organization WFP, May 2010, p. 29 , accessed on January 28, 2011 (English).
↑ The bloody clashes in Monrovia , known as the "Rice Unrest" in 1979, were based on a crisis in the supply of the staple food rice. A few months later, the events led to Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe's military coup .

[Bulletin2009-1] Severe Outbreak of Defoliating Caterpillars in Liberia - SPECIAL BULLETIN N ° M01 / 09 February 2009. (PDF; 211 kB) (No longer available online.) AGRHYMET Regional Center Niamey (Niger), February 2009, p. 2 , formerly in the original ; accessed on January 28, 2011 (English): “In January 2009, fifty five Liberian localities were infested by significantly cant defoliating caterpillar populations. Confronted with this plague, the Liberian government declared a state of emergency and solicited support from the International Community. Therefore, international (FAO) and regional (CILSS and ECOWAS) Institutions conducted missions to provide technical support to Liberia. The insect was identified as Achaea catocaloides Guenee. It is a pest known since 1925 but not much studied. "

[nationalgeographic0901-2] Karen Lange: Nightmarish Caterpillar Swarm Defies Control in Liberia. National Geographic , February 4, 2009, accessed on January 28, 2011 (English): “During the dry season, a strong wind called the harmattan blows from the Sahara across West Africa. Perhaps in late 2008, this wind picked up Achaea catocaloides moths and then deposited a large concentration along the Guinea-Liberia border. Or perhaps there was an unnoticed local increase in Achaea catocaloides numbers and, when the temperature was right, the population exploded, said Gregory Tarplah, an entomologist with Liberia's Ministry of Agriculture. "

[Verfassung-3] The Constitution of the Republic of Liberia. 1986, accessed on January 28, 2011 (English, Chapter IX "Emergency Powers", Article 86b): "A state of emergency may be declared only where there is a threat or outbreak of war or where there is civil unrest affecting the existence, security or well-being of the Republic amounting to a clear and present danger. "

[Standard090129-4] The Armyworm attacks West Africa. Der Standard (Vienna), January 29, 2009, accessed on January 28, 2011 : "Liberia and neighboring countries are fighting with caterpillar invasion - agricultural pests eat whole areas bare and contaminate drinking water"

[bbc_news090127-5] Q&A: Caterpillars ravage Liberia. BBC News , January 27, 2009, accessed January 19, 2011 .

[bbc-news090129-6] Liberia faces second worm wave. BBC News, January 29, 2009, accessed January 28, 2011 .

[Flüchtlingslager-7] IDP and Refugee Returns as of April 2006. (PDF) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), October 22, 2002, accessed on August 1, 2010 (English, refugee camps according to location and occupancy).

[Report_NREL_S11-8] Anelia Milbrandt: Assessment of Biomass Resources in Liberia . NREL / TP-6A2-44808, 2009, Agricultural Resources, p. 3 f .

[Report_NREL_S12-9] Anelia Milbrandt: Assessment of Biomass Resources in Liberia . NREL / TP-6A2-44808, 2009, Figure 1. Food Crop Residues in Liberia by County, p. 5 .

[Grenzhandel-10] A ^b Jean-Martin Bauer (et al): Cross-border trade and food security. (PDF) World Food Program Organization WFP, May 2010, p. 29 , accessed on January 28, 2011 (English).

[11] The bloody clashes in Monrovia , known as the "Rice Unrest" in 1979, were based on a crisis in the supply of the staple food rice. A few months later, the events led to Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe's military coup .