The risk of a locust plague is mounting across four popular Spanish holiday destinations: Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. Swarms of locusts have arrived in recent days, driven by humid and mild conditions from the western Sahara.
While the short-horned grasshopper species poses no direct danger to humans, it could threaten agricultural production, including vineyards, should the situation develop into a full-blown plague, as occurred two decades ago. Footage on social media shows hundreds of locusts swarming across the countryside, affecting areas such as Arrecife, Costa Teguise, Famara, Uga and Tahíche on Lanzarote, as well as northern Tenerife.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations ranks the desert locust as the most devastating migratory pest globally. A swarm covering one square kilometre can contain up to 80 million adult locusts, capable of consuming the same amount of food daily as 35,000 people.
The government of Lanzarote has activated environmental services, which will remain on high alert for the next 48 hours. Francisco Fabelo, head of the Environment of the Cabildo, stated: "The next two days are going to be key. If they are adult specimens that have arrived exhausted, they will die and nothing will happen. If we see copulations, that would mean that they are reproducing."
Officials are optimistic that the swarms will not develop into a full-blown infestation, noting that similar episodes in 2004 and the late 1980s caused no damage inside the islands. However, the Canary Islands experienced a severe desert locust incident in October 1958, when massive swarms ravaged crops in southern Tenerife, requiring aerial fumigation. A comparable event in 1954 damaged over 10,000 hectares of crops.
