Abstract

Using GIS to map Climate Change and Population Dynamics
Track: Climate Change and Conservation
Authors: Wendi Pedersen

UNOSAT, the Operational Satellite Applications Program of UNITAR, plays an important role in emergency relief operations by providing satellite derived information and maps to the humanitarian community. Through the use of GIS and satellite derived products, population dynamics (PD), such as migration and displacement in the context of natural disasters linked to climate change (CC), can be mapped.
UNOSAT used an integrated approach for data gathering to analyze the major flooding in Pakistan 2010. Geospatial information was used to analyse impacts on human/social and environmental scales. Cross referencing geospatial analysis based on remote sensed data (flood vectors) and population data (population density or absolute figures) allows new perspectives in population dynamics showing the potential of GIS for interdisciplinary approaches in CC and PD. In order to overcome the lack of social information, crowd sourced approaches in combination with mobile GIS are planned by UNOSAT.