Desert Locust Monitoring in Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Somalia in 2024/1(Spatial resolution-500m)

In January 2024, there was abundant rainfall along the western coastal areas of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, fostering robust vegetation growth. These favorable conditions facilitated the egg-laying and reproduction of desert locusts, leading to a further increase in the population of locusts in that region. The monitoring results showed that in January, the total damaged vegetation area was 16.8 thousand hectares in Saudi Arabia, including 4.3 thousand hectares of cropland, 5.2 thousand hectares of grassland, and 7.3 thousand hectares of shrub (Figure 1), accounting for 1.96%, 0.26%, and 0.18% of the total area of the cropland, grassland, and shrub, respectively. Compared to December 2023, the newly damaged vegetation area in Saudi Arabia increased by 1.2 thousand hectares. Asīr experienced the most extensive impact, with 5.8 thousand hectares of vegetation affected, followed by Jizan, with 5.4 thousand hectares. Additionally, the affected areas in Makkah and Al Bahah provinces were 5.2 and 0.4 thousand hectares, respectively.