FAO Director-General and Rodger Voorhies from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation discuss worsening Desert Locust crisis

29 April 2020, Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today had a meeting with Rodger Voorhies, the President of Global Growth & Opportunity at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss progress in the fight against the Desert Locust crisis in East Africa and other parts of the world.

The online meeting provided experts from FAO and the Foundation with an opportunity to share a detailed update on affected countries, as well as progress on the global Desert Locust response, from the integration of innovative surveillance and forecasting to control strategies at the country level and the engagement of academic and other institutions.

The Director-General stressed the importance of using solid evidence and data to plan operations, the importance of leveraging innovative and scientific approaches, and collaboration on building the next generation of experts at the country level who could anticipate and seek to avoid a similar crisis in the future.

Voorhies said he appreciated FAO’s efforts to respond to this crisis despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He suggested scheduling regular meetings to review progress with the intention of consolidating efforts to jointly address the challenges.