ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
For decades, the U.S. has led the charge in detecting and preventing famines. Washington created the world's first famine early warning system called FEWS NET. But that system went offline in January as a result of President Trump's stop work orders. Now it's coming back, although, as NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, big questions remain.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: This summer 40 years ago, images of emaciated children in Ethiopia shocked the world and inspired one of the biggest charity concerts ever. Artists like Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie, Madonna, Queen took to the stage. It was called Live Aid.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: And around the world, it's time for Live Aid - 16 hours of live music and aid of famine relief in Africa.
EMANUEL: But celebrities weren't the only ones responding to the famine. The U.S. government did as well. In 1985, it created a famine warning system. The goal was to avoid human suffering, but also to prevent mass migration and help ensure stability. Alex de Waal of Tufts University says it made sense economically.
ALEX DE WAAL: It is far, far cheaper to prevent a disaster than it is to relieve suffering when a disaster unfolds.
EMANUEL: The value of FEWS NET was obvious in 2016 when it helped alert the world to a massive drought in Ethiopia, and so food aid was positioned to be in the right place at the right time. Unlike earlier famines, no one died from starvation. This type of change made de Waal think that famine might be a thing of the past.
DE WAAL: For most of my career, I thought, OK, I'm studying something that's been consigned to history.
EMANUEL: But famines haven't gone away, and FEWS NET kept working to avert disaster. Luis Ramirez (ph) is part of the team in Latin America and the Caribbean. They pore over climate forecasts, crop reports, conflict and migration patterns.
LUIS RAMIREZ: We are working to collect information, analyze information, validate this information in the field.
EMANUEL: All of it together tells officials and humanitarian groups what's coming that could pressure the food supply. And it does that months before it happens. He thinks of FEWS NET as a lighthouse.
RAMIREZ: That lighthouse that helps to guide through that sea where the ships should go to help the people.
EMANUEL: The lighthouse went dark in January when President Trump halted the vast majority of foreign aid.
RAMIREZ: They was like, OK, just stand up, turn it off and walk away.
TANYA BOUDREAU: We have teams around the world. All of those staff had been, unfortunately, terminated.
EMANUEL: That's Tanya Boudreau of FEWS NET. She says it was the first time in FEWS NET's 40-year history that it went offline, and they're still assessing the impact.
BOUDREAU: There's been a gap in the information that decision-makers have to plan.
EMANUEL: Take Sudan, for example, where the World Food Programme says about 25 million people face extreme levels of hunger. Experts worry that without information from FEWS NET, aid organizations aren't able to target food where it's needed most. But that may change now that the U.S. has decided to bring back FEWS NET. As staff are rehired, Boudreau has been amazed to learn that even when they were told to walk away, many kept working informally.
BOUDREAU: One of the most heartwarming things is just how committed our staff are to this project.
EMANUEL: The State Department did not respond to requests for comment about its decision to end and then restart FEWS NET. De Waal of Tufts University says it's great the system is back up, but it's only valuable if it's paired with action.
DE WAAL: The question is, if you have the information, are you going to act on it?
EMANUEL: And since so much humanitarian aid has been cut, acting on it, de Waal says, may be hard.
Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ADAM SKINNER, ET AL.'S "THE GRIEVANCE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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