This book describes the interdisciplinary work of USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) and its influence on methodological and development policies in the US. This book describes FEWS NET's systems, methods and presents several illustrative case studies that will demonstrate the integration of both physical and social science disciplines in its work. The aim of this book is to bring the work of USAID's Famine Early warning System Network into the public domain.

Autorentext

Molly E. Brown received a master's of arts degree in 1998 and a doctor of philosophy in the summer of 2002 from the Department of Geography, University of Maryland at College Park. She has worked with the GIMMS group at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center since 1997, primarily on developing and using a stable, 25-year, 8km vegetation record from the NOAA-AVHRR series of instruments. Using these satellite data to investigate questions of climate, land use, and human-environmental interaction has been the main focus of her work.

Inhalt
Background.- Conceptual Frameworks.- FEWS NET's Structure and Remote Sensing.- Remote Sensing for Early Warning.- Rainfall Estimates.- Derived Agricultural and Climate Monitoring Products.- Vegetation Index Measurements.- Climate Forecasts.- Food Security Analysis.- FEWS NET's Integrated Analytical Areas.- Dynamic Communication and Decision Support.- Use of Remote Sensing in FEWS NET Country and Regional Offices.- Population Datasets.- Food Markets and Prices.- Scenario Development and Contingency Planning.- Case Studies.- Case Study: Ethiopia and the 20022003 Food Security Crisis.- Remote Sensing Data in the Mesoamerican Food Security Early Warning System (MFEWS).- Zimbabwe's Crisis of 20062007.- Analysis and the Future.- Power, Politics and Remote Sensing.- The Future of FEWS NET.