Incidence and ramifications of armed conflict in countries with major desert locust breeding areas

Authors: Showler, Allan

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2021
Publication Date: 1/8/2021
Citation: Showler, A. 2021. Incidence and ramifications of armed conflict in countries with major desert locust breeding areas. Agronomy Journal. 11:114. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11010114.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11010114

Interpretive Summary: The desert locust occasionally undergoes phase transformation as a result of population increases associated with flushes of green vegetation in often remote breeding areas in vast regions of Africa and Asia. Transformation from the isolated solitary phase to the gregarious phase involves the formation of nymphal (hopper) bands and flying, highly mobile adult swarms, that can devastate agricultural production. The most important breeding areas occur in 14 African and Asian countries. A salient objective of desert locust control efforts is being able to intervene against breeding populations to avert the development of outbreaks, upsurges, and plagues. There are numerous impediments to conducting proactive and preventive desert locust control, but one of the most intractable obstacles involves insecurity, or armed conflict, that can preclude desert locust surveillance and control operations in the key breeding areas, interfere with international coordination regarding desert locust control efforts, and reduce the availability of funds that would otherwise be dedicated to desert locust management. While most aspects of desert locust control have been extensively studied and reported, the occurrences and effects of insecurity, including international and civil war, rebellions, banditry, terrorism, and deployment of explosive mines, in countries that harbor major desert locust breeding areas has largely been neglected. This article reports on insecurity in countries with major desert locust breeding areas and on how the insecurity has affected surveillance and control efforts from 1986 through 2016.

Technical Abstract: The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), occasionally undergoes phase transformation as a result of population increases associated with flushes of green vegetation in often remote breeding areas in Sahelian and North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and South Asia. Transformation from the isolated solitary phase to the gregarious phase involves the formation of nymphal (hopper) bands and flying, highly mobile adult swarms, that can devastate agricultural production. The most important breeding areas occur in Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, along the India-Pakistan border, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Western Sahara, and Yemen. A salient objective of desert locust control efforts is being able to intervene against breeding populations to avert the development of outbreaks, upsurges, and plagues. There are numerous impediments to conducting proactive and preventive desert locust control, but one of the most intractable obstacles involves insecurity, or armed conflict, that can preclude desert locust surveillance and control operations in the key breeding areas, interfere with international coordination regarding desert locust control efforts, and reduce the availability of funds that would otherwise be dedicated to desert locust management. While most aspects of desert locust control have been extensively studied and reported, the occurrences and effects of insecurity, including international and civil war, rebellions, banditry, terrorism, and deployment of explosive mines, in countries that harbor major desert locust breeding areas has largely been neglected. This article reports on insecurity in countries with major desert locust breeding areas and on how the insecurity has affected surveillance and control efforts from 1986 through 2016.