
_JB:_ Mike Budde and his colleagues are with the “Famine Early Warning System Network”:http://www.fews.net/; FEWS NET for short. Their data from many different satellites relate to rainfall, for example, or snowmelt, soil moisture, air temperature, or the greenness throughout the growing season.
_Mike Budde:_ We take bits of information and put them together to try to tell a story, or identify areas that may be an impending drought or flooding potential
_JB:_ When necessary, FEWS NET issues warnings to governments and international aid organizations in the affected region. These FEWS NET reports can help decision-makers figure out where people are most at risk and decide in which areas to concentrate food aid.
_Mike Budde:_ At that point, it’s up to decision-makers to take that information and make beneficial decisions on behalf of their country.
_JB:_ At this time in Earth’s history, more than a billion people on Earth don’t know where their next meal is coming from. That’s one-sixth of Earth’s population in danger of dying from poverty and starvation, every day. That’s our show. Our thanks today to “NASA”:http://www.nasa.gov – explore, discover, understand.
_DB:_ We’re on the web at earthsky.org. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
The “Famine Early Warning System Network”:http://www.fews.net – FEWS NET for short – set up 20 years ago by the “U.S. Agency for International Development”:http://www.usaid.gov/.
FEWS NET (USGS).
“Aiding Afghanistan, NASA Earth Observatory.”:http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Afghanistan/
Our thanks to:
Michael E. Budde
Environmental Scientist
SAIC Technical Support Services at USGS/EROS
Sioux Falls, SD