On Mar 20, 2020, IPP-CAAS organized a video meeting on the risk analysis of desert locust invasion and the implementation plan of green sustainable prevention and control strategies. Academician Wu Kongming, Vice President of CAAS, Xiong Mingmin, Deputy Director General of the Science and Technology Department of CAAS, and Xie Pei, Deputy Director of the Project Management Division, attended the meeting. Experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, China Agricultural University and Beijing Normal University were invited to give comments on the meeting. Director General Zhou Xueping and Deputy Director General Zheng Yongquan of IPP-CAAS attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by DDG Zheng Yongquan.

Representing the research team, Prof. Zhang Zehua, the leading scientist, reported the implementation plan including the project background, historical occurrence and the work to be carried out. Academician Wu Kongming, head of the expert group, pointed out that the team should pay close attention to the dynamics of desert locust, put forward countermeasures on the basis of a clear scientific analysis of the threat of desert locust in our country, and gradually develop key control technologies and products suitable for the outbreak areas of desert locusts in Africa and Asia, so as to provide scientific and technological support for countries along the Belt and Road, and promote China’s advanced locust control technology to go internationally. Experts at the meeting affirmed the importance of the project and suggested speeding up the research progress to aim at global food security.

DG Xiong Mingmin stressed the importance of actively dealing with the harms of desert locusts, and required the expert group to further revise and improve the implementation plan, overcome the difficulties brought by the epidemic, and successfully accomplish the organization and implementation of the research on monitoring and control of desert locusts.

DG Zhou Xueping required the project team to make careful organization, and push forward the research work in an orderly way including assessment of desert locust threat, analysis of suitability and invaded areas, tracing the spread and migration routes, and research and development of coping technologies.

All staff members from the Department of Scientific Research Management of IPP-CAAS and key members of the project team attended the meeting. It is known that the outbreak of desert locusts in Africa, India and Pakistan early this year has drawn global attentions. Regarding the potential threat to China, Prof. Zhang Zehua has been interviewed by a number of news media such as Xinhua News Agencey, China Science News, Guangming Daily, etc. He said that possibility of desert locusts migrating directly into China’s inland areas is extremely small, but if oversea desert locusts are not controlled, the probability of entering China in summer will increase.