The current outbreak of the Desert Locust has affected much of eastern Africa and has reached as far as Pakistan and India in Asia, generating significant agricultural losses in a region that is already highly unstable economically, politically, and in terms of food security for its human populations (FAO, 2020). Desert Locust outbreaks require a combination of weather, soil and vegetation conditions that favour the reproduction and aggregation of otherwise solitary individuals (Despland et al., 2000) (Figure 1a). When those conditions appear, locusts aggregate, multiply in large numbers and migrate long distances, turning into a plague and devastating crops on their way.
On the relative role of climate change and management in the current Desert Locust outbreak in East Africa.