The Desert Locust, Schistocerca gregaria, is the world’s most dangerous migratory pest with a voracious appetite unmatched in the insect world. Within the Desert Locust’s distribution area, which is equivalent to 20 percent of the Earth’s land surface and stretches from North-West Africa to the Indian subcontinent, the insects can rapidly reproduce, concentrate and then form swarms able to move up to 150 kilometres per day in search of food. These swarms can even cross continents and oceans. A single Desert Locust swarm the size of Brussels could consume Belgium’s entire food supply in a single day.

Desert Locust swarms pose a constant threat to food supplies in some of the world’s poorest and driest countries. Established in 1955 by FAO, when the world was in the midst of a 12-year-long Desert Locust plague, the Desert Locust Control Committee (DLCC) is the primary forum that brings together locust-affected countries, donors and other agencies to discuss Desert Locust management under the FAO umbrella. DLCC is also the primary advisory body to the Director-General of FAO on all Desert Locust issues, and has met 40 times since its establishment till 2012.

This information sheet presents the role and activities of the DLCC which is the primary forum that brings together locust-affected countries, donors and other agencies to discuss Desert Locust management under the FAO umbrella.

DLCC keeps the desert locust situation under review; coordinates the desert locust control campaign in the affected areas; promotes overall coordination of the various national and regional anti-locust organizations and commissions and of national and international policies and protective measures; provides the FAO Director-General with technical and scientific advice on the desert locust situation and on measures required to keep it under control and give general policy guidance.