ABSTRACT
There are three main operators of famine warning systems other than southern governments: the United Nations, the United States government and the NGOs. That operated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN is the only truly global system; all the others concentrate on at-risk areas. When it is installed, the UNICEF system promises to cover all the vulnerable countries where it woks. Others are confined to Africa. The Oxfam system covers the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, USAID covers the same ground but includes Mozambique. Others presently operate in one or two countries only but have the potential to spread. They include those operated by SCF(UK), AEDES and the Sudanese Red Crescent Society. These are included here as examples of the potential that national, non-government, early warning systems have.
