There's a slate of international institutions that coordinates locust management and response. The primary effort is conducted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which runs the Desert Locust Watch to track locust migration patterns and oversee regional response efforts.

In individual nations, a lack of cash, competing priorities and domestic challenges make it hard to mount a long-range pest management strategy. Because locust numbers ebb and flow, it's been difficult for countries — such as Kenya, which hasn't seen an infestation in 70 years — to build up intermediate and long-term infrastructure to address outbreaks proactively. That's why so many governments are now scrambling to come up with solutions.

"It's hard to maintain funding and political will and knowledge and capacity building when you have these unpredictable boom and bust cycles that could play out over years or decades," a pest expert Iverson says. "If you wait until it's reactive and forget about it until it happens again, we're going to be in this situation forever."

Right now, the most effective way to fight locust outbreaks involves mass aerial sprays of pesticides to kill locusts. Iverson says that's not ideal, given the adverse effects such chemicals have on biodiversity and human health. But emerging technologies may hold promise for the future. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently partnered with the United Nations to repurpose technology used to track smoke plumes from fires to predict the migrations of locusts, the Scientific American reported. And in terms of locust extermination, Iverson says pesticides have untapped potential — although lots of research and development is still needed in the area.