FEWS NET, once USAID’s flagship famine warning system, is back online

After a months-long shutdown, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network — or FEWS NET — is officially back, marking a significant step in the reactivation of some U.S. government-run programs that were halted as the Trump administration slashed nearly all U.S. foreign aid. The system, historically funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented through contractors such as Chemonics and the American Institutes for Research, is now gradually resuming operations. Management of FEWS NET is expected to shift fully to the State Department in the coming weeks. Chemonics began to restart some of its FEWS NET work several weeks ago, while AIR has now also restarted activities, a spokesperson confirmed. Its return is a welcome development for aid agencies around the world that rely on the program’s timely, in-depth analyses to coordinate and prioritize their own responses to humanitarian crises. Widely regarded as the world’s most reliable early warning system for food insecurity for its four decades of existence, FEWS NET has been offline since January — although it did publish one report in May. It used to publish dozens of reports annually. “FEWS NET will progressively restore its full reporting cycle in the coming months, beginning in July with Key Messages for more than 20 countries,” the network announced in a statement on Tuesday. “The FEWS NET team will reinstate its regular reporting cycle, backfill data gaps where possible, and restore full country coverage in the coming months,” FEWS NET said in a separate statement. FEWS NET’s reactivation also comes with its reengagement with technical U.S. government partners, including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Geological Survey. It also pulls in data from the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which measures the severity of hunger crises on a scale from one — which is the least severe — to five, which signifies famine. “Management of the FEWS NET program is expected to transition to the State Department in the coming weeks,” the statement said. The full integration of USAID and the State Department is set to happen by July 1. While an earlier draft of a House appropriations bill floated moving FEWS NET to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that provision was later removed. Updated food security data across the dozens of countries FEWS NET covers is expected to be available by October 2025, according to a spokesperson. The resumption comes at a time of escalating food crises across multiple regions. On Monday, FEWS NET released the special report, Global Food Security Update: June to September 2025, in which it warns of deteriorating hunger situations in some of the world’s most fragile contexts. In Gaza, the report highlighted “high levels of acute malnutrition and hunger-related deaths.” Sudan remains the most alarming case in East Africa, “where Famine (IPC Phase 5) will likely persist in Al-Fasher and neighboring Tawila localities in North Darfur through the lean season at a minimum. Extreme outcomes, including heightened mortality levels, are also expected in areas of Khartoum and the Nuba Mountains regions in South Kordofan through the lean season,” the report said. It also warned of famine risk in parts of South Sudan as conflict escalates during the lean season. In West Africa, assistance needs are growing in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria’s northeastern region due to conflict and erratic weather patterns. Agricultural production has also been disrupted by conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Mozambique. Meanwhile, in the Americas, Haiti’s spiraling violence continues to restrict food access, while food insecurity in Central America's Dry Corridor — a region stretching across El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua — is expected to worsen, as is the situation in Venezuela. The return of FEWS NET, while vital for tracking and preparing for these crises, does not guarantee that aid will reach those in need. The June to September outlook highlights the worsening hunger situation in many parts of the world. But with major aid cuts both in the U.S. and globally, the broader question of whether sufficient resources will be mobilized still looms. “The return of FEWS NET sends an important message, reminding the world that American foreign assistance is both generous and strategic,” the network said in its statement. “By providing governments and aid organizations with the data and analysis needed to anticipate and prepare for food shocks, we can all work together towards achieving the shared goals of reducing human suffering while promoting global stability and prosperity.”