CIESIN conducts a range of basic and applied research. CIESIN’s basic research aims at better understanding and predicting the behavior of socio-ecological systems and developing data to support research by others. CIESIN staff have served as principal investigators and senior research personnel on research projects supported by a range of funders (see Programs & Projects) in areas such as environmental security, climate migration, natural hazards, indicator development from remote sensing data, experimental uses of device location and nighttime lights data, and population-environment interactions.
CIESIN’s research has resulted in peer-reviewed publications and a range of reports.
Prioritizing involuntary immobility in climate policy and disaster planning
African Shifts: Addressing Climate-Forced Migration
( February 2023, 242 pages, 19 MB PDF )
This report from the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative (ACMI) depicts African people’s experience of climate vulnerability and presents possible scenarios for movements due to climate impacts.
This report from the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative (ACMI) depicts African people’s experience of climate vulnerability and presents possible scenarios for movements due to climate impacts. CIESIN contributed to the report by producing spatially explicit projections of both internal and international mobility that may occur from climate impacts, within and among African countries, up to the year 2050. This modelling builds on the innovative approaches of the World Bank’s Groundswell series of reports, for which CIESIN worked with City University of New York and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Migration theory in climate mobility research
de Sherbinin, A., K. Grace, S. McDermid, K. Van der Geest, M. Puma, and A. Bell. 2022. Migration theory in climate mobility research, Section Climate Mobility (4). https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.882343.
The agency of cities as climate migration destinations.
Rosengärtner , S.K., A. De Sherbinin, and R. Stojanov. 2022. In Special Issue, International Migration. The agency of cities as climate migration destinations. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13024.
Advancing Data for Street-Level Flood Vulnerability: Evaluation of Variables Extracted from Google Street View in Quito, Ecuador
Velez, R., D. Calderon, L. Carey, C. Aime, C. Hultquist, G. Yetman, A. Kruczkiewicz, Y. Gorokovich and R.S. Chen. 2022. Advancing Data for Street-Level Flood Vulnerability: Evaluation of Variables Extracted from Google Street View in Quito, Ecuador. IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society. 51–61.
Editorial: Open citizen science data and methods
Hultquist, C., A. de Sherbinin, A. Bowser, and S. Schade. 2022. Editorial: Open citizen science data and methods. Frontiers in Climate (4). https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.943534.
Editorial overview: Slow onset events related to climate change
Adamo, S.B., R. Djalante, P.G.D. Chakrabarti, F.G. Renaud, A.W. Yalew, D. Stabinsky, Z. Zommers, and K. Warner. 2021. Editorial overview: Slow onset events related to climate change. Current Opinion in Environment Sustainability vol. 50(June): A1-A7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.08.003.
Violent conflict exacerbated drought-related food insecurity between 2009 and 2019 in sub-Saharan Africa
Anderson, W., C. Taylor, S. McDermid, E. Ilboudo-Nébié, R. Seager, W. Schlenker, F. Cottier, A. de Sherbinin, D. Mendeloff, and K. Markey. 2021. Violent conflict exacerbated drought-related food insecurity between 2009 and 2019 in sub-Saharan Africa. Nat Food 2: 603–615. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00327-4.
Internal Climate Migration in the Lake Victoria Basin Countries | Internal Climate Migration in West African Countries.
A sequel to the 2018 Groundswell report, the Groundswell Africa series complements the recently released Groundswell II report by providing in-depth analysis on potential scale and spread of internal climate migration in West Africa and the Lake Victoria Basin, with country level analysis for Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Groundswell Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration
(September 2021, 362 pages, 26.98 MB PDF).
This report by CIESIN and the World Bank, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research projects increased numbers of people moving within their countries of the developing world—as many as 216 million internal migrants by 2050.
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Clear filtersCIESIN’s applied research efforts are aligned with Columbia’s Fourth Purpose, which leverages the university’s scholarly knowledge to create societal and global impact, in close partnership with organizations outside academia. The goal of this research is to advance human welfare and environmental sustainability by applying the university’s distinct intellectual capacities to practical problem solving and policy development, thereby bringing about meaningful changes. Examples include helping to identify locations for solar desalination, policy-relevant research on climate-related migration, and scientifically robust environmental indicator development for policy audiences. Clients have included USAID, The World Bank, and state agencies.