ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY

In this talk, I will describe the interdisciplinary work of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and its influence on methodological and development policies in the US. FEWS NET operational needs have driven science in biophysical remote sensing applications through its collaboration with NASA, NOAA, USGS and USDA, and socio-economic methodologies through its involvement with USAID, the United Nation's World Food Program and numerous international non-governmental organizations such as Save the Children, Oxfam and others. I will describe the methods and processes through which FEWS NET does its food security analysis, as well as the datasets and models that are most useful for assessing food security.