Biological risks. Some historical and geographical consideration on locust plagues

Abstract

Some decades ago humanity, or at least a good part of the scientific-technological elites people and the international organization in charge thought that one could finish with plagues and epidemiological disease, that's to say the most important biological risks, or at least keep them under control. The eradication of smallpox seemed to confirm that idea; however, over last two decades some of the most harmful épidemies have worsened, such as malaria, tuberculosis or yellow fever, while others have appeared, like aids, which have questioned the most dominant idea. Furthermore, the continuity and worsening of the plagues which affect food resources has highlighted the idea of the permanence and return of the plagues. In this investigation we are going to carefully analyse plagues of locust although without forgetting the global framework in which this and other plagues take place.