FEWS NET: Famine Early Warning Systems NetworkIn 1985, as the pictures of starving Ethiopian children found their way into international headline news, US officials came under public scrutiny for being embarrassingly unaware of the extent to which famine had ravaged Africa. Determined to not be caught off guard again, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), based in Washington, D.C., decided to create a monitoring system which could identify problems within the food supply chains of nations at high risk and FEWS NET (Famine Early Warning System Network) was born. According to USAID, the purpose of FEWS NET is to “lower the incidence of drought or flood-induced famine by providing decision makers timely and accurate information regarding potential food shortage conditions”. This early warning system is the result of a multi-disciplinary, cooperative effort which collects, analyzes, and distributes information by cross referencing weather records and satellite imaging data. By observing the current vegetation conditions and dispatching field operatives to collect samples and provide first hand observation within identified emergency areas, it allows for a highly accurate view of possible famine related phenomenon. All monitored regions have their status reported on the FEWS NET homepage using a colour coded system. Red is for current emergencies, orange for warnings, yellow for watches in place and blue signifying areas with no significant data findings or normal results as compared to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) - a measure of the amount and vigour of vegetation at surface level. And the interactive map can be narrowed to user defined regions and parameters allowing for ease of research.
Gathered data is shared globally via the FEWS NET website, provided through the African Data Dissemination Service, and contains both the interactive map as well as seasonal trend data for comparative interpretation. The regional, national, and sub-national findings are used to brief decision makers and government officials, warning them of potential famine or climate related hazards and giving them an opportunity to take preventative measures. Currently, FEWS NET has representatives located within sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, (southern) Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), Afghanistan, and Haiti. |
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