The 2019-2021 desert locust crisis, the worst in 70 years, destroyed crops across East Africa, Yemen, and South Asia; by 2022 the upsurge was officially controlled, but FAO's Desert Locust Watch through 2024-2025 documented continued breeding in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Sudan, localised outbreaks in Eritrea and Djibouti, and a spring 2025 surge in southern Arabia that required emergency aerial spraying across Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Oman; the structural drivers of rapid population growth, La Nina rainfall patterns, and reduced surveillance capacity in conflict zones remain