The 22nd edition of UNEP’s Foresight Brief highlights the possible role of climate change in locust infestations, and calls for well organised early warning systems that operate within an integrated pest management context and employ innovative strategies such as ecosystem-based approaches.
In early 2020, the worst swarms of desert locusts in decades decimated crops and pasture across Eastern Africa and beyond, threatening the food security of the entire subregion. Desert Locusts pose an unprecedented risk to agriculture-based livelihoods and food security in already fragile regions. Approximately 20.2 million people faced severe acute food insecurity in East Africa economies such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania (FAO 2020b). With the ongoing concerns about immature swarms continuing to form within the regions of eastern Ethiopia and central Somalia, the locust invasion threatens to drive this number even higher.
