For the last 50 years, coffee production has been in constant decline for major producing countries of Eastern Africa, like Kenya and Tanzania. Factors explaining this decline include high production costs, especially costs for fertilizers and pesticides, which led many smallholders to phase out of coffee farming. The African coffee white stem borer (CWSB), Monochamus leuconotus (Pascoe) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) appears to be a growing threat in those countries and a significant cause of coffee farming abandonment. CWSB damages coffee trees, mainly by ring barking and wood boring, leading to low yields and dieback under high infestation. Insecticides that have proven to be effective for CWSB control in the past are banned today, and coffee smallholders are poorly equipped to resolve the threat. An urgent need for action has been recognized in different countries of the region to provide scientifically-sound and practical strategies for the management of CWSB. However, available knowledge of the pest bioecology still suffers gaps that need to be filled to achieve this objective. For 4 years now, the coffee pest project at International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya has undertaken research dedicated to CWSB bioecology. The present communication reviews this research and gives some basic unpublished life history traits. A rearing method with an artificial diet has been developed that allowed the description of CWSB life cycle and feeding and reproductive behaviours, and the assessment of the pest demographic parameters. Field surveys in smallholder coffee farms located on elevation gradients on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania allowed the characterization of the pest population dynamics and showed impact of agro-ecological factors such as elevation, shade and microclimate. Recommendations for a more efficient and sustainable management of this major pest are proposed based on existing knowledge along with results obtained at icipe.