PrintConflict Mapping Workshop
March 6, 2012
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March 8, 2012
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Matt Levinger video on Using GIS Technology for Genocide Prevention.
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LocationU.S. Institute of Peace |
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping technologies can empower conflict management practitioners by providing timely and detailed information both to international actors and to residents in conflict zones. Focusing on case studies in Sudan and Central Africa, this workshop explores how GIS technologies can support early warning and prevention efforts as well as community-level security initiatives. Participants develop strategies to address the technical, analytical, institutional, and political challenges involved in designing coordinated conflict mapping systems. This three-day workshop is designed for practitioners from governments, international organizations, NGOs, academia, and the private sector who are interested in using participatory GIS technologies to support more effective conflict early warning and response. It will combine lectures and discussions with a multi-day case study, which will examine the design challenges of building a participatory mapping platform for the border region between South Sudan, northern Uganda, eastern Central African Republic (CAR), and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since the launch of Google Maps and Google Earth in 2005, there has been an explosion of participatory mapping projects utilizing open-source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies. These tools have been used for a wide range of “crisis mapping” initiatives in response to both natural disasters (for example, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan) and political crises (the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, the 2010 Afghan national elections, and the 2011 uprising in Libya). But such mapping projects have often had limited impact in supporting more effective crisis response efforts—in part because of insufficient coordination between the technical specialists who have organized and led mapping initiatives and the end users of the data who are charged with responding to these crises. A recent U.N. Foundation report entitled Disaster Relief 2.0 points out shortcomings in the crisis mapping efforts launched after the Haiti earthquake: “The international humanitarian system was not tooled to handle these two new information fire hoses—one from the disaster-affected community and one from a mobilized swarm of global volunteers.”
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According to a 2011 World Bank report, 1.5 billion people live in regions affected by state fragility, conflict, or large-scale criminal violence—with devastating effects on economic development and public health. To break the cycle of violence in these volatile regions, it is essential to foster sustained cooperative action involving a wide range of local, national, regional, and global institutions—including governments, NGOs, international organizations, and the private sector. Collaborative mapping projects can play a vital role in helping both international actors and the residents of communities in conflict-prone regions to identify and respond more effectively to emerging threats of organized violence.