Strata : Mapping climate, environmental and security vulnerability hotspots
Description
Strata is a comprehensive tool that integrates spatial datasets for climate, environment, and peace and security-related stress factors. The platform aggregates these datasets with additional layers of information on population exposure and socioeconomic vulnerability, resulting in a 'hotspot' map that highlights areas where these stressors converge.
Details
Strata was developed by Earth Blox, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the University of Edinburgh. This tool aids over 130 UN country teams by consolidating data from diverse sources into a single platform, providing clarity on where environmental and climatic stresses intersect with socio-economic vulnerabilities and insecurities. Strata demonstrates the convergence of environmental stressors, explains changes in hotspot intensity, and identifies interactions with social and economic variables that increase risks of fragility, conflict, migration, or ineffective response.
Strata's approach is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) conceptualization of risk, combining hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Each indicator is assigned a threshold value, and surpassing this threshold marks it as a 'red flag.' The resulting hotspot map showcases the cumulative count of these red flags, highlighting regions where multiple stress factors occur simultaneously.
The project was implemented globally, with a particular focus on Somalia, and it employs data from sources such as Google Earth Engine, Sentinel-2, MODIS, SRTM, Landsat, ACLED, FEWS NET, WorldPop Global Project, VIIRS, and The Malaria Atlas Project.
More
To learn more about the application please explore Space Climate Observatory website and Strata web platform. Website is available in English and French.