Desert locust management: from ecology to anthropology

Plague locusts are a major problem in many developing countries. For the desert locust, control by a preventive strategy proved effective, and led to a dramatic decrease in outbreak frequency and duration over the last 40 y. Principal problems are now of an organizational nature. Natural-risk management plans for locust outbreaks, associated with new financial mechanisms, must be implemented in order to ensure early reaction, efficiency of control and sustainability of the preventive approach. Studies of these outbreaks should be based on the ecological mechanisms considered to date, but also be broadened to include economic, social, organizational and cultural mechanisms that have been largely overlooked in the past. New concepts, such as risk-management systems, stakeholder strategies, and governance, should be given serious consideration. A new approach to locust issues is suggested, using techniques derived from sociological and anthropological sciences.