EMod's Lisa Thalheimer kicked off 2020 with a publication 'The picture from above: Using Satellite Imagery to Overcome Methodological Challenges in Studying Environmental Displacement’. Together with her co-author Alison Heslin from Columbia University, they ask the question: Can remote sensing help us overcome methodological hurdles in studying environmental displacement? INET website readers may wish to follow their thoughts in the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration Analysis. Here is the Abstract:

Extreme and uncertain climate conditions adversely affect people around the world, including, in extreme circumstances, by displacing them from their homes. In today’s global climate crisis, it is critical to have a range of tools available to measure and address the scale and drivers of such forced migration. Inclusive development and the provision of time-effective humanitarian aid to those displaced requires real-time information on displacement, information that can be difficult to fully obtain through data collection on the ground. Satellite data offers an opportunity to supplement ground-level data collection for targeted intervention in areas most at-risk of displacement. The starting point of this paper is the discourse on environmental displacement, the challenges of studying this type of displacement and the opportunities information from remote sensing provide. We then showcase the applicability of such data in an embedded case study on Somalia, a country with a longstanding history of forced migration, drought and conflict.

In other news, Dr Fredi Otto, Dr Nathalie Seddon (among others) and Lisa reflect on COP25, progress on Article 6, climate mobilities and what’s to come in Glasgow at COP26 in a Futuremakers special episode: Listen here.