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Description
Both natural and humanitarian catastrophes result in massive displacement of the affected population. The problem of the continuous increase of refugees/internally displaced persons worldwide raises a great interest among the stakeholders and decision-makers in emergency response of the European Union, United Nations and Non-Governmental relief organisations. The main drivers of the investigation are the environmental considerations, particularly the mutual influence between the environment and the camp inhabitants (exposure to the natural hazards included). Specifically multidirectional analysis of HR/VHR satellite data in time-series of several types of camps will be performed. The spatial analysis of the camps and their surroundings will be complemented by in-depth interviews including the position of people working and/or living in a given area. The main goal of the social research is to identify the most important factor of the camp inhabitants activity which are the drivers behind the environmental changes. The interdisciplinary analysis will result in a recommendation and best practices for refugee/IDP camp areas management and satellite monitoring system concept design. The project outcomes will be published on the developed “Online Geo-platform” providing the information on inhabitants activities in relation to the environment, including both the geospatial information and informative reports and additional descriptive data, in order to raise public awareness of the environmental changes taking place in the camp areas, their impact on the camp population and their causality, including the humanitarian assistance provided to the camps’ inhabitants on their way to self-reliance. Through this project, the partners will build up new capacities and competences, both on a national and international scale. This advantage lead to developing a permanent network of contacts in two directions - between entities from the same sector and interdisciplinary ones.
Summary of project results
Both natural and humanitarian catastrophes result in massive displacement of the affected population. The problem of the continuous increase of refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide raises a great interest among the stakeholders and decision-makers in emergency response of the European Union, United Nations and Non-Governmental relief organisations. The main drivers of the investigation of the proposed project are the environmental considerations, particularly the mutual influence between the environment and the camp inhabitants (exposure to the natural hazards included). The multidirectional analysis of High and Very High Resolution (HR/VHR) satellite data can address several relevant issues. We will analyze specifically time-series of two types of camps; (1) Still active camps and (2) Former camp sites that have already been destroyed and abandoned. The influence of the camps on the surrounding landscapes reflect indirectly the social aspects of the given area. The spatial analysis of the camps and their surroundings will be complemented in a limited set of areas by in-depth interviews including the position of people working and/or living in a given area. The main goal of the social research is to identify the most important factor of the camp inhabitants activity which are the drivers behind the environmental changes. The interdisciplinary analysis will result in a recommendation and best practices for refugee/IDP camp areas management and satellite monitoring system concept design. The project outcomes will be published on the developed “Online Geo-platform” including both the geospatial information and informative reports and additional descriptive data, in order to raise public awareness of the environmental changes taking place in the camp areas, their impact on the camp population and their causality, including the humanitarian assistance provided to the camps’ inhabitants on their way to self-reliance.
The work carried includes tasks performed in the five work packages: WP1 – WP5.
In WP1, the project requirements have been revised and consolidated, including the preliminary selection of the area of interest, the satellite input data (type and temporal resolution), and the end-user group. The activities comprise an application for Ethical Approval. Additionally the project website and project channel on social media were established.
In WP2, the input data collection was successfully completed and a series of algorithms for HR/VHR satellite data processing were developed providing a set of new multi-temporal geospatial products, i.e. VHR satellite based camp structures maps, Sentinel-1 quarterly averaged radar backscatter mosaics, Sentinel 1&2 based annual land use/cover classification maps, soil moisture anomaly maps and ecosystem functional types maps (implementation of self-competence development project outcome). Due to the postpone in field work the additional data for Mtendeli and Kutupalong camps has been processed, covering the year 2022. Additionally the accuracy assessment of developed approach for classifications and dwelling extraction was performed.
In WP3, the AOI’s literature was reviewed. The reported main phases of the selected camp''s timeline were contributing to the field research design. A field research proposal was elaborated and submitted to COSTECH, the guidelines for interviews and a subcontracting bid documentation were prepared. The activities led to extensive networking with local actors, enabling ground-truth data collection and remote interviews conducting.
In WP4, the concept of two complementary approaches has been prepared for combining geospatial outcomes with insiders perspective based on socio-geographical input. Mixed-Analysis enable the determination of key periods of short and long term changes. Additionally, a number of methods for trend analysis and change detection were tested, resulting in a final approach development and implementation. Within this working package the recommendation for future EO based system was elaborated and provided as a form of deliverable.
Finally, in WP5, the results derived from WP2 and WP3 have been verified for suitability and compliance with the online geoplatform. This working package covered all actions regarding ARICA Online Geoplatform testing phase. Geoplatform UX and UI design work has been performed and presented in a final form to the potential end-users during the 3rd Experts Meeting (organized in cooperation with WP2 and WP3). The feedback has been collected and the appropriate corrections were applied.
Within WP2-WP5 a series of dissemination activities were performed including press releases, scientific and interdisciplinary publications, workshops and conferences speeches.
Natural and humanitarian disasters cause significant displacement of populations. Remote sensing techniques play a crucial role in tracking population movements and environmental changes. By integrating these technologies with socio-economic and demographic data, it is possible to gain valuable insights into the complex interactions between human behavior and the environment, which are essential for effective policy development. The ARICA project aimed to merge this two research domains to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impacts that the establishment and operation of refugee camps have on their local terrain and communities. This interdisciplinary approach enables stakeholders to better understand the environmental consequences of camp policies and the social behaviors of camp residents. The analysis is based on satellite data, derived geospatial products, field-collected in-situ data and information collected from interviews with local authorities, camp inhabitants, and NGOs. ARICA provides a wide set of geospatial products: land use/cover and change maps for selected test sites obtained using high resolution Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images, maps of dwellings based on very high resolution data, trend analysis, and soil moisture analysis. All of the products are available for the users on a dedicated ARICA Onlie Geoplatform: https://geoplatform-arica.gridw.pl/ which together with developed Camp Story portal: https://arica.gridw.pl/pl/camp-story. The project outcome enabled the detection and monitoring in time the environmental changes regarding rapid anthropogenic pressures (settlements or other infrastructure developments phases); food security (croplands related transformations); environmental degradations (deforestation, vegetation loss, increase in Ecosystem Functional Types); humanitarian assistance (population estimation, afforestation – impact of the camp management decisions such as gas supply). The focus is on gaining a deeper understanding of the socio-economic factors driving the observed land transformations and creating the concept of future user-oriented satellite based operational monitoring system with the roadmap for proper management and limitation of the negative impact of interaction between inhabitants–environment.
Summary of bilateral results
Both, the scientists from Poland and Norway, have an excellent background in social and environmental science. The partners have previously not worked together, neither on the interdisciplinary scale as well as on the thematic scale, which means that through the successful project goals finalization, we opened the doors for a long-term international and interdisciplinary cooperation. The strong complementarity between the Polish and Norwegian researchers within Earth Observation methodologies was noticeable. Both research institutes, shared their technical experience and benefited from building new capabilities and competencies. CBK PAN covered the optical remote sensing areas, whereas NORCE complemented it with cloud-penetration and interferometric synthetic aperture radar satellite data. The social science part of the project was conducted in collaboration between researchers from Poland (UW) and Norway (NORCE). They supplemented each other as they have expertise from a high number of national and international studies on forced migrants in Poland, Norway, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Greece (Lesvos), Morocco and Tunisia as well as in many other regions. In addition, the large experience of Polish SME (UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre) in research related to sustainable development and the use of natural resources, was complemented by NORCE, actively participated in climate change field. The support concerned the thematic and technical expertise and wide knowledge on the available informative sources of environmental monitoring initiatives. Implemented holistic approach enabled to develop innovative solutions and provided new insight to the challenging and broad nature problem of refugee/IDP camp areas pressure on the environment. The successful cooperation creates suitable conditions for further development and exploitation of developed results in a form of joint actions and projects.