On 8 June 2023, four panellists discussed information management, mapping and earth observation in the humanitarian sector. The panellists, all different stakeholders in the humanitarian sphere, were: Nicki McGoh from Caribou Space, Steve Penson from the World Bank, Luke Caley from IFRC and Luis Valasquez from MapAction.
Through our work we know how technology can bring about better outcomes and change for the better. This is also true in emergency situations and disasters, where clarity is essential. Our panellists all work in the development and humanitarian sectors, and it’s perhaps worth reminding ourselves what humanitarian intervention actually means:
Humanitarian intervention - actions undertaken by an organisation or organisations (usually a state or a coalition of states) that are intended to alleviate extensive human suffering within the borders of a sovereign state (Britannica, 2023)
With the panel session we had four main aims:
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Raise awareness: highlight the current and future work using geospatial technologies and data in the humanitarian sector
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Provide examples of best practice: where data technology can help - the here and now
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Highlight some barriers to adoption
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Provide examples of future opportunities with the use of mapping, information technologies and earth observation
Each of the speakers gave a brief overview of their organisations. Luis told us more about MapAction and their work across rapid response and emergency preparedness with mapping and information management, Luke covered his work at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies leading information management in emergencies, Steve presented on his work at the World Bank in Yemen, and Nicki explained the work of Caribou Space in the earth observation for development and humanitarian sector.
The panel itself began by looking at the current humanitarian landscape. There have been several high-profile humanitarian crises this year, including the Türkiye/Syria earthquakes, renewed conflict in Sudan, the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Other crises have garnished less media attention but nevertheless caused devastation, such as the floods in Peru or the Yemen conflict.
Supertanker off Yemen
Steve highlighted the analysis on the FSO Safer crisis, a supertanker in an advanced state of decay off the coast of Yemen - currently experiencing a protracted humanitarian crisis. Steve and Nicki talked through the data analysis, using GIS and earth observation data, which allowed the possible impacts to be modelled and shared with all stakeholders. This allowed an advocacy project to begin and raise awareness, and funding to start to remove the oil from the decaying tanker. In April 2023, the UN announced that another tanker had set sail to remove the oil from the FSO Safer.
Floods in Peru
Luis covered his recent experience with MapAction in Peru following the devastating flooding which occurred in March 2023 with around 300,000 people affected. Luis and his MapAction colleagues mapped and helped to understand the situation on the ground. MapAction’s maps helped to paint a clearer picture of the emergency for key managers and agencies involved in decision-making. Luis talked about the different sorts of data - situational data related to the flooding like how many people were affected, which schools and hospitals were damaged etc. and also baseline data such as the population of a town or village, the number of schools in a region etc. There are challenges to working with each of these types of data - is it up-to-date, what is the source, does it give a full picture of the affected area? We talked about some data stores which provide both baseline and situational data such as Common Operational Datasets on the HDX website.
Who is on the move in a crisis?
Luke talked about his work with IFRC, and the system he is building to help the Red Cross Red Crescent monitor and respond more quickly to emergencies, IFRC GO. The platform pulls together disaster information to help with preparedness, response, operational learning to help operational coordination and needs/response monitoring. He also talked about some specific contexts such as trying to estimate population movement in crises such as Ukraine, Turkiye and Sudan - the need to do this for planning and the different methods (and limitations) of various data sources, whether from remote sensing, social media or other, e.g earth observation data (data from satellites) can be used to understand how temporary settlements are being formed and try to estimate population movement from the air. This alongside more traditional primary data collection through questionnaires and surveys helps to build up a better understanding of how a disaster has precipitated people’s displacement. Luke mentioned the use of Kobo toolbox for primary data collection in many situations across the humanitarian sector. Luke then discussed the use of artificial intelligence to collate information and structure qualitative data about an ongoing situation or disaster in the DEEP.
Nicki covered the topic of earth observation research for monitoring and evaluation (M&E), landscaping and strategy and then Luke mentioned the International Disasters Charter which aims to provide earth observation data to help support disaster response globally.
Barriers to adoption
In the second part of the panel session, we moved on to a discussion on the potential barriers to adoption, whether that’s information management processes, mapping datasets or earth observation data and analysis. Caribou Space have recently published a report which addresses earth observation and humanitarian emergencies.
Yet when it comes to data about a community or affected population, there is often a lack of official statistics. Census information may be many years out of date, tools and systems may be designed for governments to use but in many areas of the world decision-making at a sovereign level may not be up to standard (perhaps due to instability or poor governance). There is also a lack of funding to implement technological innovation in the humanitarian sector.
There is a need for trust in the humanitarian and development sectors and the use of geospatial technologies. Case studies can help to build this trust, but may often be of a certain place and time - there was the consensus amongst the panel that case studies could be better shared with stakeholders Steve called for better links to academic research especially around the topic of food security as a lot of work has been done on using earth observation data to predict where droughts may occur and provide early warning to allow anticipatory action. Luis called for more data literacy and to improve access to data to allow communities to make informed decisions from the data - this could be valid in both an emergency preparedness and a disaster response setting.
Towards response with a 'single voice'
The session concluded by looking at the future role of technology in the humanitarian sphere. There was a consensus that data is getting better and bringing communities together. Steve talked about the need to reduce silos between organisations and try to combine data and technology to answer a response with a single voice. Luis advocated for a more local focus with data being the catalyst to make this happen. Besides technology, use and management of data is key.
Luke emphasised the need for more and better evidence systems to improve anticipatory action and our collective ability to analyse crises - noting that the IFRC had relaunched a 100 year old project to build a Global Crisis Data Bank, alongside World Met Organisation and UN agencies. Nicki talked about the need to build evidence of success stories which then helps build trust in models and data which are used which in turn builds confidence from end users and communities which may benefit. Time wasn’t on our side to discuss the role of AI in the humanitarian sector. Next time!
Further Reading materials:
MapAction - www.mapaction.org
Caribou Digital - www.cariboudigital.net/
IFRC - www.ifrc.org/ and www.go.ifrc.org
World Bank - www.worldbank.org
Information Management at UN OCHA - www.unocha.org/our-work/information-management
The New Humanitarian - www.thenewhumanitarian.org/