成群的蝗蟲(chóng)摧毀了肯尼亞北部的部分地區(qū)

成群的蝗蟲(chóng)摧毀了肯尼亞北部的部分地區(qū)

The branches on trees around Kenya’s northern town of Lodwar have been stripped bare of leaves, bending downwards under the weight of voracious young locusts.

在肯尼亞北部小鎮(zhèn)洛德瓦附近，貪婪的小蝗蟲(chóng)把樹(shù)枝壓得彎曲不堪，樹(shù)葉已經(jīng)被剝光了。

Numbers of locusts exploded in East Africa and the Red Sea region in late 2019, exacerbated by atypical weather patterns amplified by climate change. Swarms of insects flew west from Yemen and this year reached Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.

2019年底，非洲東部和紅海地區(qū)的蝗蟲(chóng)數(shù)量暴增，氣候變化加劇了非典型天氣模式。成群的昆蟲(chóng)從也門(mén)向西飛行，今年到達(dá)了肯尼亞、索馬里和埃塞俄比亞。

The new generation has hatched in Turkana, Kenya’s poorest region. The young locusts are eating everything in sight and when their wings mature the swarms will be able to travel up to 80 miles in a day.

新一代蝗蟲(chóng)已經(jīng)在肯尼亞最貧窮的圖爾卡納孵化。這些年輕的蝗蟲(chóng)正在吃掉眼前的一切，當(dāng)它們的翅膀成熟后，這些蝗蟲(chóng)能夠在一天內(nèi)飛行80英里。

Locusts are seen after devastating a tomato farm near the town of Lodwar, Turkana county, Kenya.Reuters“The locusts have come to destabilize an already bad situation,” said Daniel Kirura, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Turkana.

在肯尼亞圖爾卡納縣洛德瓦爾鎮(zhèn)附近，蝗蟲(chóng)毀壞了一個(gè)番茄農(nóng)場(chǎng)。“蝗蟲(chóng)破壞了本已糟糕的局勢(shì)。”聯(lián)合國(guó)糧農(nóng)組織駐圖爾卡納負(fù)責(zé)人丹尼爾·基魯拉(Daniel Kirura)說(shuō)。

A Turkana boy tries to chase away a locust swarm near the town of Lodwar, Turkana county, Kenya.

圖爾卡納縣洛德瓦爾鎮(zhèn)附近，一個(gè)圖爾卡納男孩試圖趕走蝗蟲(chóng)群，肯尼亞。

Kirura fears the swarms will spread quickly and said teams are working frantically to spray them with insecticide before they become airborne.

基魯拉擔(dān)心蜂群會(huì)迅速擴(kuò)散，并說(shuō)小組正在瘋狂地工作，在它們飛散之前噴灑殺蟲(chóng)劑。

“Within one week they may mature to swarms that may fly away,” Kirura said. “Our wish is to control them before they leave Turkana.”

“在一周內(nèi)，它們可能會(huì)成熟，然后成群的飛走，”基魯拉說(shuō)。“我們的愿望是在他們離開(kāi)圖爾卡納之前控制他們。”

Turkana is a vast, dry scrubland in northwest Kenya that borders Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Residents say the insects are devastating farmland and grazing areas.

圖爾卡納是肯尼亞西北部一片廣闊、干燥的灌木叢，與烏干達(dá)、南蘇丹和埃塞俄比亞接壤。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裾f(shuō)，這些昆蟲(chóng)破壞了農(nóng)田和牧區(qū)。

“These things that jump up and down came here two days ago and have eaten all the trees,” said Michael, near Turkana’s capital Lodwar.

在圖爾卡納首都洛德瓦爾附近的邁克爾說(shuō)：“這些上下跳躍的東西兩天前來(lái)到這里，吃掉了所有的樹(shù)。”