FOOD SECURITY AND MONITORING SYSTEMS - Food Security, Food Prices and Climate Variability - page 34

• Livelihoodzonedescriptionsaccompanythemaps.Theybrielydescribethemainchar-
acteristicsoflivelihoodsineachzone.Ontheirown,livelihoodzonemapsanddescrip-
tions aid development of monitoring systems by identifying geographically relevant
variablestomonitor.Atotalof36countrieshavelivelihoodzonemapsanddescriptions
that can aid in interpreting the impact of a shock.
• Livelihoodproilesprovideabriefeconomicdifferentiationbetweengroups(wealth
groups) and information on the relative importance of different sources of food and
income to each. This information provides a basis to begin understanding vulnerability
to particular events - i.e., which stresses will impact which populations and how. A total
of 18 countries have livelihood profiles on the FEWS NET website.
• Livelihoodbaselinesprovideadetailed,quantiiedbreakdownofhouseholdlivelihood
options (food, cash and expenditure patterns) and coping capacity/expandability for dif-
ferentwealthgroupsinthelivelihoodzone,highlightingmarketlinkages,andconstraints
and opportunities for economic growth. They can be used to predict who will be
impacted by which shocks, how and to what degree. They can be linked to population
information to estimate numbers of beneficiaries and assistance requirements. A total of
11 countries have livelihood baselines.
• Seasonalmonitoringcalendarscombinetheseasonalcalendarsfoundintheproileswith
the information on sources of food and income by wealth group to identify which vari-
ablesareimportanttowhichwealthgroupsineachzone.Thisservesasaquickreference
tool when developing a monitoring plan. A total of 22 countries have monitoring calen-
dars, although all countries FEWS NET operates in have crop calendars associated with
them.
MostcountriesinFEWSNET'scoverageareahavezonemapsanddescriptionsandsome
have baselines, but few have the full complement of products. The products are updated
every five years and more frequently in some areas experiencing rapid change. They are the
primary way analysis of the impacts of food security impacts of extreme weather or food price
shocks are done within the early warning system.
Risk reduction framework for early warning
For the purpose of food security analysis and early warning, the Disaster Risk Reduction
(DRR) framework is useful for understanding how household vulnerability to particular
hazardsrelatestoriskoffoodinsecurity.Theframeworkprovidesapracticalmeansforcon-
necting food security conditions to risk instead of waiting for conditions to come to a crisis.
Riskcanbedescribedasafunctionofahazardandthehousehold'svulnerabilitytothe
hazard,modiiedbythehousehold'scopingcapacity.
The most commonly used definition of the DRR framework is “the conceptual frame-
workofelementsconsideredwiththepossibilitiestominimizevulnerabilitiesanddisaster
risks throughout a society, to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the
adverseimpactsofhazards,withinthebroadcontextofsustainabledevelopment”(UNISDR,
2004). Thinking and practice about risk reduction includes a wider and deeper understanding
of why disasters happen, a focus on the broader political and economic context, and the
necessity of a holistic and integrated approach necessary to reduce their impact on society
(Wisner et al ., 2004). In the context of early warning of food security crises, it is critical to