Famine Early Warning Systems Network

slowly evolving natural hazards such as agricultural drought. Famine early warning systems transform these data into actionable policy information, enabling humanitarian organizations to respond in a timely and appropriate manner. These life-saving responses are increasingly important: In 2006, one out of eight people did not have enough food to eat and 22 million more people became sufficiently undernourished to require intervention, prompting 22 countries to provide $6.5 billion in food aid. Since their inception in the mid-1980s, the combination of monitoring and mitigation systems has dramatically reduced the number of famines caused by biophysical hazards, such as floods, drought, and pests, that destroy food crops [Murphy and McAfee, 2005]. Yet despite this notable achievement, many countries, mostly in Africa, face chronic and increasing food insecurity. The motivation is strong therefore to increase the effectiveness of food aid, and to ensure that the assistance arrives sufficiently early to ward off human and economic catastrophe. Remote sensing information that is properly interpreted reduces the influence of politics in determining the amount and location of aid delivered, ensuring that the aid goes only where it is needed. This article briefly reviews three recent contributions that Earth observations have provided to famine early warning: trend identification, increasingly accurate forecasts of food security conditions, and enhanced integration of biophysical and socioeconomic data.