Natural Resources
Resources
Exploring Community Resilience and Early Warning Solution for Flash Floods, Debris Flow and Landslides in Conflict Prone Villages of Badakhshan, Afghanistan
Briefs & Development
There is a visible paradigm shift in disaster research from hazard and vulnerability assessment to developing framework for community resilience. Further, there is growing recognization…
MapX: An Open Geospatial Platform to Manage, Analyze and Visualize Data on Natural Resources and the Environment
Briefs & Development
This paper describes MapX, a spatial data infrastructure that aims to support the sustainable use of natural resources and the environment by increasing access to…
Blood Diamonds to Blockchain Diamonds?
Blog
Do you know where your diamonds come from? Ethically-sourced minerals and gems have gained a lot of traction of late. And increasingly, globally, consumers want…
Artificial Intelligence: Our Next Ally against Environmental Risks
Blog
A glance at one satellite map of the Peruvian Amazon is enough to grasp the scale of devastation humans are causing to one of Earth's…
Open Mineral and ConsenSys Seek to Put the Blockchain in the Mineral Supply Chain
Blog
Open Mineral, an online metal and mineral exchange based in Switzerland, announced today the company’s upcoming launch of a distributed ledger blockchain platform to serve…
Why Blockchain Can Be an Effective Tool for Fighting Environmental Crime
Blog
The effects of environmental crime and illicit trade are vast and often irreversible. For illustration, look no further than the recent death of the last…
This Website Can Tell You Who Owns Land in 60 Countries
Blog
Helping cultures and nations communicate with one another has traditionally been the responsibility of diplomats, but the Land Portal Foundation takes the position that strengthening…
New Data Highlight Afro-Descendant Territories without Legal Recognition, and the Threats They Face
Blog
New data gathered from Afro-descendant community councils and state records reveal that the Colombian government has failed to address 271 claims for collective Afro-descendant land…
Strengthening Hydromet and Early Warning Services in Afghanistan: A Road Map
Briefs & Development
Hydrological and meteorological (hydromet) data collection and analysis in Afghanistan started in the late 1940s and mid-1950s, respectively. The hydrometric network expanded rapidly in the…
Fires in Protected Areas Reveal Unforeseen Costs of Colombian Peace
Briefs & Development
Armed conflict, and its end, can have powerful effects on natural resources, but the influence of war and peace on highly biodiverse tropical forests remains…
Natural Resource Wars in the Shadow of the Future: Explaining Spatial Dynamics of Violence during Civil War
Briefs & Development
Previous studies on natural resources and civil wars find that the presence of natural resources increases both civil conflict risk and duration. At the same…
Terrorism, Geopolitics, and Oil Security: Using Remote Sensing to Estimate Oil Production of the Islamic State
Briefs & Development
As the world’s most traded commodity, oil production is typically well monitored and analyzed. It also has established links to geopolitics, international relations, and security. Despite this attention,…
Beyond Richardson: Modeling Conflict in a World of Complexity and Climate Change
Briefs & Development
Richardson's pioneering work on modelling conflict and arms races has demonstrated that mathematics can contribute to peace and conflict research. Limitations of Richardson's model have…
Global Water Monitor & Forecast Watch List
Briefs & Development
The ISciences Water Security Indicator Model (WSIM) monitors and forecasts water anomalies on a global basis. Each month ISciences produces data and a report that…
Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Forest Cover Change in Teknaf, Bangladesh
Briefs & Development
Following a targeted campaign of violence by Myanmar military, police, and local militias, more than half a million Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh…
Funding Rebellion: The Rebel Contraband Dataset
Briefs & Development
We introduce a new dataset measuring if and how rebel groups earn income from the exploitation of natural resources or criminal activities. The Rebel Contraband…
Role of Technology in Promoting Peace
Briefs & Development
Technology in itself has a very broad meaning. From wheel to the latest launched satellite, all comes under the development of technology for the peace…
Composite Water Management Index
Briefs & Development
India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat. Currently, 600 million Indians face…
Ecological Impact of Rohingya Refugees on Forest Resources: Remote Sensing Analysis of Vegetation Cover Change in Teknaf Peninsula in Bangladesh
Briefs & Development
Satellite remote sensing technique has been used to assess the vegetation cover changes experienced by areas severely affected by Rohingya refugees in Teknaf peninsula of…
Big Data’s Big Role in Reducing Water Stress
Blog
Water stress is not an arcane term just used by hydrologists. It is defined as the inability to meet the ‘human and ecological demand for…
2017 Resource Governance Index
Briefs & Development
This report presents the key findings and core messages of the 2017 Resource Governance Index. The index measures the quality of resource governance in 81…
Backdraft #9: Joshua Busby on Mapping Hotspots of Climate and Security Vulnerability [Podcast]
Library
Maps help us to grasp complex ideas, such as patterns of risk and vulnerability, but the stories they tell can have significant implications. “It’s very…
The Effects of Migration on Livelihoods, Land Management, and Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in the Harpan Watershed in Western Nepal
Briefs & Development
Migration is increasing in the middle hills of Nepal, and it has diverse consequences for the people remaining behind, their livelihoods, and the way they…
Towards a Multi-scale Approach for an Earth Observation-Based Assessment of Natural Resource Exploitation in Conflict Regions
Briefs & Development
The exploitation of resources, if not properly managed, can lead to spoiling natural habitats as well as to threatening people’s health, livelihoods and security. The…
Does Artisanal Mining Increase the Risk of Sexual Violence? Micro-Level Evidence from Eastern Congo
Briefs & Development
DR Congo’s natural resource abundance has featured in policy debates and amongst advocacy groups as the prime example of ‘conflict minerals’ driving conflict-related sexual violence.…
Civil Conflict Sensitivity to Growing-Season Drought
Briefs & Development
To date, the research community has failed to reach a consensus on the nature and significance of the relationship between climate variability and armed conflict.…
Agriculture as a Funding Source of ISIS: A GIS and Remote Sensing Analysis
Briefs & Development
Agriculture is an important source of income for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), which currently rules over large parts of the breadbaskets…
Charting Environmental Conflict -- The Atlas of Environmental Justice
Briefs & Development
On 22 June, 100s of people came together in Brussels to mourn for Jo Cox. There was a minute of silence even in the Belgian…
Afghanistan Environmental Data Centre
Briefs & Development
The Afghanistan Environmental Data Centre (AEDC), a co-operative venture between UNEP and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), funded by UK Department for International Development…
Assembling Evidence for a Land and Property Restitution Database during the Syrian Civil War
Briefs & Development
The enormity of the refugee population generated by the Syrian civil war will present significant dilemmas for land and property restitution once the war ends.…