Environmental Degradation
Resources
Mapping and Analysing Cultural Ecosystem Services in Conflict Areas
Briefs & Development
Human-mediated global environmental change threatens ecosystem services worldwide. Detailed cultural ecosystem services mapping is crucial to counteract ecosystem degradation, but such mapping exercises have been…
Peace, Security and Conservation on Central Africa's Radio
Blog
In northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and eastern Central African Republic (CAR), high-frequency radios are helping to cultivate peace, security, and, more recently, conservation.…
Serving Refugee Communities with Tech, Energy Access, Entrepreneurship: Mastercard and USAID’s Collective Approach
Blog
As we mark World Refugee Day 2019 (June 20) and reflect on the fate of displaced communities all around the world, we are convinced, now…
Blockchain Is Great, but It Can't Solve Everything. Take Conflict Minerals.
Blog
Blockchain technology can help trace a product as it moves through a supply chain, but it cannot create trust where it’s often most needed.
Who's Interested in Afghanistan's Lithium?
Blog
What connects mobile phones, the Taliban, India and China? A metal called lithium.
Complexity Analysis of Sustainable Peace: Mathematical Models and Data Science Measurements
Briefs & Development
Peace is not merely the absence of war and violence, rather 'positive peace' is the political, economic, and social systems that generate and sustain peaceful…
Spatial and Political Factors in Forest Resource Conflicts: The Eastern Mau Forest Case 1992–2014
Briefs & Development
This paper examines conflicts and forest resource politics in Eastern Mau, which is part of the Mau forest complex in Kenya. Conflict hotspots are mapped…
The Middle East: Blue Strike List
Briefs & Development
The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace has observed that the increasing tendency to use water resources and infrastructure as targets or as weapons…
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…
Temperature Extremes, Global Warming, and Armed Conflict: New Insights From High Resolution Data
Briefs & Development
This paper contributes to the debate whether climate change and global warming cause conflicts by providing novel evidence about the role of extreme temperature events…
Fair and Equitable Approach Using GIS for Solving the Krishna River Conflict, India
Briefs & Development
Conflict occurs between people in all kinds of human relationships and in all social settings. Because of the wide range of potential differences among people,…
Mapping Artisanal Mining Areas and Mineral Supply Chains in Eastern DR Congo
Briefs & Development
For ten years IPIS has researched, and gathered extensive data on, the linkage between conflict and mineral resources in the eastern Democratic Republic of the…
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…
A Meta-Analysis of Natural Resources and Conflict
Briefs & Development
The relationship between natural resource wealth and civil conflict remains unclear, despite prolonged scholarly attention. Conducting a meta-analysis—a quantitative literature review—can help synthesize this broad…
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…
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…
Health Consequences of an Armed Conflict in Zamboanga, Philippines Using a Syndromic Surveillance Database
Briefs & Development
The Zamboanga armed conflict was a 19-day long encounter in the Philippines in 2013 that displaced 119,000 people from their homes. This study describes the…
Health Consequences of an Armed Conflict in Zamboanga, Philippines Using a Syndromic Surveillance Database
Briefs & Development
The Zamboanga armed conflict was a 19-day long encounter in the Philippines in 2013 that displaced 119,000 people from their homes. This study describes the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…