When Climate Fuels Pests: How Climate Change-Induced Pest Invasion is Reshaping Ecosystems and Livelihoods in East Africa
Abstract
Pest damage continues to undermine food security and farmers’ livelihoods across East Africa, yet a comprehensive synthesis of its cascading ecological and socioeconomic consequences is lacking in the literature. Climate change, through rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and recurring droughts, is fundamentally altering pest behaviour and distribution across the region, driving a phenomenon here described as pest invasion: the climate-driven process by which previously contained pests break out of their historical boundaries, colonise new elevations and seasons, and destabilise the ecological relationships that once kept their populations in check. This review therefore aimed to: (i) analyse the impact of climate change on pest dynamics in East Africa, including shifts in distribution and phenology; (ii) examine the ecological consequences of pest proliferation on ecosystem structure and function; (iii) assess the socioeconomic implications for livelihoods and food security; and (iv) evaluate adaptive and area-wide pest management strategies. A qualitative narrative review synthesised peer-reviewed literature (2015-2025) from Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and JSTOR, screened for empirical rigour, geographic focus, and thematic relevance. Evidence shows that invasive pests, including fall armyworm, desert locusts, false codling moth, and Prosopis juliflora, are generating compound burdens of biodiversity loss, yield reduction, and pesticide dependence, disproportionately borne by smallholder farmers, particularly women. Area-wide integrated pest management emerges as an essential response, yet adoption remains constrained by weak policy frameworks, limited extension capacity, and insufficient regional coordination. The review concludes that climate-resilient, gender-responsive, and regionally coordinated pest management systems are essential for long-term food security and ecological sustainability in East Africa.