The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) was developed with a complex goal: produce timely, evidence-based forecasts of acute food insecurity to help governments and international aid organizations protect those most vulnerable to the impacts of hunger crises.

Nearly 40 years since its inception, FEWS NET has expanded on this goal by developing a new website that prioritizes open access to the vast collection of data, tools and resources behind its life-saving reports and analyses.

“FEWS NET harnesses the power of its multidisciplinary teams to monitor and forecast acute food insecurity in more than 30 countries,” FEWS NET Team Leader Kiersten Johnson said. “For decades, we have collected a wealth of data on all of the topics that go into our analyses, including climate, conflict, markets and trade, livelihoods, nutrition and more. Now, for the first time, those data are accessible to the public for wider use and innovation.”

The new FEWS NET website prioritizes easy, on-demand access to its lineup of reports, including country and regional-level Alerts, Food Security Outlooks, Food Assistance Outlook Briefs, Seasonal Monitors, and Global Weather Hazards, among many others.

In addition to these reports, each FEWS NET country and regional page now provides access to downloadable food security classification data, seasonal calendars, production and trade flow maps, livelihood zone resources and more.

New interactive maps on the FEWS NET website allow users to view in-map trend charts, engage with data indicating the number of people in urgent need of food assistance, and evaluate satellite remote sensing imagery used to produce climate- and weather-related forecasts.

“Our interactive maps have really opened up a whole new world by allowing users to directly access, analyze and download FEWS NET data for use in their own work,” Johnson explained. “By providing access to these maps, and by making current and historical data available for download across the new FEWS NET website, we hope to inspire the next generation of humanitarians to develop new, evidence-based insights that may help alleviate the effects of the current global food emergency, and perhaps prevent the next one.”

According to the latest FEWS NET assessments, an estimated 129 million people across 30 reporting countries will require humanitarian food assistance in 2023, an increase of more than 70 percent since 2019. FEWS NET analysts have been closely monitoring the drivers of the current global hunger crisis, including conflicts — and in particular Russia’s war on Ukraine — the ongoing historic drought in the Horn of Africa and the widespread economic challenges that linger in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“FEWS NET encourages the international community to leverage the wealth of food security resources that are now available through our new website,” Johnson said. “Now, anyone with an Internet connection can see where the global food security crisis is hitting people the hardest and why; this empowers each of us to take informed action to help those among us who need it most.”

Subscribe to FEWS NET updates to receive the latest global food security reports and alerts, and follow FEWS NET on Twitter and Facebook for the latest information.