Politics, Techno-Science, and the Environment: The Late Twentieth-Century Challenges of Locust Control in Post-Colonial Southern Africa.

Abstract

This article tells the history of the management of invasive locust swarms in southern Africa in the 1970s and early 1980s. It examines the threats the pests posed to African livelihoods and the challenges in combating them. The article argues that in the 1970s, postcolonial southern African states' attempts to manage the environment with the help of international organizations were intimately tied to the region's experiences under colonial rule, their commitment to ensure the whole region's independence, and the new realities of their dependence on international donor support. This support entrenched a reliance on techno-chemical interventions at a time when the global environmental movement against pesticides was particularly strong. Southern Africa's international collaborators ultimately ignored this global movement, and locust control in the region continued to depend on the application of organochlorines. However, faith in techno-science failed to address the social, political, and ecological conditions that allowed locusts to flourish. Consequently, the pests remained a threat.