Yemen Desert Locust Response Project

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The objectives of the Desert Locust Response Project for Yemen are to control the desert locust outbreak, support livelihoods in locust-affected areas and strengthen Yemen’s preparedness for future locust infestations. The Project has four components. 1. Surveillance and Control Measures component’s objective is to limit the growth and spread of current desert locust populations. This component has three sub-components. 1.1. Continuous surveillance sub-component will provide early warning of locust outbreaks, inform effective control operations, and mobilize assistance for affected and at-risk communities. Activities under the 1.2 Control measures sub-component aim to reduce locust populations and prevent their spread to new areas. It will emphasize neutralizing hopper bands using bio-pesticides before they develop into adult swarms, the control of which requires extensive use of conventional pesticides. 1.3. Risk reduction and management sub-component will monitor and assess environmental and human health risks associated with locust control and to implement health, environmental, and safety measures to reduce risks to an acceptable minimum. 2. Livelihood Protection and Rehabilitation component is designed to provide a robust protection response that ensures immediate relief to affected farmers and livestock owners and build their resilience to climate-induced locust infestation. 2.1. Safeguarding food security and protecting human capital for enhanced resilience sub-component aims to provide immediate Cash for Work (CfW) support to selected beneficiaries in locust-affected areas. These beneficiaries are expected to be primarily women, as well as agricultural laborers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers. 2.2. Rehabilitating agricultural and pastoral livelihoods sub-component focuses on the longer-term restoration of livelihoods by providing targeted support to restore the assets of farmers and livestock owners affected by locust infestations and train primary producers to restart production based on more resilient practices. 3. Coordination and Early Warning Preparedness component will strengthen the national capacity for early warning and early response, linking these efforts to regional locust surveillance and control networks thereby enhancing climate resilience. 3.1. Improving the infrastructure and institutional capacity of the national locust control centers sub-component will build a network of DLCCs as follows: (i) establish a new Central Desert Locust Control Center (CDLCC) in Aden and three regional hub centers in Hodeidah, Shabwa and Sieun, as well as (ii) rehabilitate the infrastructure and operational capacity of the Desert Locust Control Centers (DLCCs) in Sanaa and Hodeidah, which have been severely affected by the ongoing crisis. The new centers will be built on land that belongs to the Government of Yemen. 3.2. Early warning preparedness sub-component will finance the design, testing, and deployment of a Desert Locust Early Response System (DLERS) throughout the DLCC network. Early warning systems will be developed and implemented to support prevention and rapid response to current and new climate-change-induced locust infestations, thereby limiting their spread and intensification within Yemen and across bordering nations. 4. Project Management and Knowledge Management component will cover FAO costs associated with project management, such as implementation support, financial management, procurement, monitoring the project environmental and social aspects, and overall monitoring and evaluation (M&E).