Locust Hub
A repository for desert locust data with maps and other resources for tracking movements, early detection and planning locust control interventions.
URL
Locust Hub Website: https://locust-hub-hqfao.hub.arcgis.com/
Locust Dashboard: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d8df827fc77340b29740e7b151de1674
Description
A public portal managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Locust Hub provides information "about the state of the locust upsurge and the UN's response efforts". It offers a geographic and time-sensitive visualization of recent desert locust activity, such as hopper groups and bands, adult groups and swarms. It also shows where control operations have been carried out.
According to FAO, the data is "updated frequently with the latest observations from the field" by assigned locust teams, supplemented by additional field staff. These reports are then validated by the country’s national locust centre, before being transmitted to FAO’s Desert Locust Information Service which publishes it through the public portal.
How to use the Locust Data Explorer
A more advanced dashboard (accessible here) provides more detailed information on observations recorded at a given location, including the type of locust presence reported and control operations carried out in the area.
Data can be filtered by time period (last week, this month, last month, last three months), as well as by locust type and by country.
The locust data explorer states that it is updated every four hours. Additional information on location, maturity, behaviour and breeding status can be found by clicking on an observation point.
The data can also be used to predict movement of swarms, when used in conjunction with tools such as windfinder.com (which offers a map of wind speeds in the region), or soil moisture viewer as locusts thrive after heavy periods of rainfall.
How to use the Soil Moisture Viewer
This tool (accessible here) provides soil moisture data at 1 km resolution across desert locust breeding areas. Developed for FAO's global Desert Locust early warning system, it can help identify moist sandy soil areas favourable to locust reproduction in Africa, the Near East and southwest Asia.
According to FAO, the service is updated every ten days and allows users to explore changes in soil moisture over the previous three months.
Slider buttons allow users to adjust the mean soil moisture range shown on the map during a specific 10-day period.
Clicking on a location displays the mean soil moisture over the selected period, and opens a small chart in the interface showing earlier measurements in that same place.
The “Compare” function offers a comparison of soil moisture levels between two selected time periods. This indicates whether the soil is drier (in red) or wetter (in blue) than during the chosen reference time period.
Cost
Level of difficulty
Requirements
Users will need to submit this online form and create a FAO Data in Emergency Community account to have access to the full historical archives dataset. The data provided are "archival" data, from 1965 to last year.
The website states that with that option, "real-time data are not available but can be seen through the Locust-Hub data explorer."
Users can also use an ArcGIS login if this is already provided by their institution.
Limitations
The hub is mostly descriptive (i.e., past and current sightings). The data quality will vary per country as it depends on inputs by local teams.
Some familiarity with GIS tools will be required for non-specialists.
Although the data is regularly updated, it may not always be updated in time for research on the real-time status or for making predictions.
Ethical Considerations
If using Locust Hub data with personally identifiable or politically sensitive datasets, it is advisable to avoid unintentionally exposing individuals or communities to risk. Data should be contextualized, anonymized where necessary, and presented with transparency about its limitations and sources.
Guides and articles
Edward Tian on How To Track Desert Locust Swarms, Bellingcat.
Tool provider
Managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations headquartered in Rome, Italy.
Similar tools
Tools similar to Locust Hub:
eLocust3m: This is a smartphone app developed by FAO in collaboration with PlantVillage / Penn State, designed for field teams to report locusts. It also has a function that allows app users to report sightings.
eLocust3: This includes a field survey device with tablet and satellite antenna used by national survey/control teams, especially in remote areas where connectivity is poor. It includes features like mapping, navigation, recording of infestation polygons (via GPS) and data transmission via satellite so that even remote survey teams can send data.
EarthRanger: Developed for wildlife management, EarthRanger has been enhanced to ensure ingestion of eLocust3m and eLocust3g data as well as exporting manually entered data in a compatible format for inclusion in the RAMSES GIS used by national locust authorities. It is used to manage survey and control aircraft / assets, track spray operations, visualize maps of where swarms and control interventions are happening.
For predictive modelling, Locust Hub is best used in conjunction with other tools such as:
Windspeed: https://www.windfinder.com/
Weather and Rainfall data offered by Nasa Worldview.
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