Bob Chen, Xxioshi Xing, Bob Downs and the late Mark Becker at the International Training Workshop for Developing Countries on Scientific Data Management and Sustainable Development Beijing, China, 15 - 31 July, 2012

Research & Publications

Research

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 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.

CIESIN’s research has resulted in peer-reviewed publications and a range of reports.

Peer-Reviewed Publications 

2023

Martinez, J. F., K. MacManus, E.C. Stokes, Z. Wang, and A. de Sherbinin. 2023. Suitability of NASA’s Black Marble daily nighttime lights for population studies at varying spatial and temporal scales. Remote Sensing 15(10): 2611. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102611.

2022

Boo, G., E. Darin, D.R. Leasure, C.A. Dooley, H.R. Chamberlain, A.N. Lázár, K. Tschirhart et al. 2022. High-resolution population estimation using household survey data and building footprints. Nature Communication 13:1330. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29094-x.

Bucherie, A., C. Hultquist, S.B. Adamo, C. Neely, F. Ayala, J. Bazo, and A. Kruczkiewicz. A comparison of social vulnerability indices specific to flooding in Ecuador: principal component analysis (PCA) and expert knowledge. 2022. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 73: 102897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102897.

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.

Fthenakis, V., G. Yetman, Z. Zhang, et al. 2022. A Solar Energy desalination analysis tool, Sedat, with data and models for selecting technologies and regions. Scientific Data 9 (233). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01331-4.

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.

Palacios-Lopez, D., T. Esch, K. MacManus, M. Marconcini, A. Sorichetta, G. Yetman, J. Zeidler, S. Dech, A.J. Tatem and P. Reinartz. 2022. Towards an improved large-scale gridded population dataset: A pan-European study on the integration of 3D settlement data into population modelling. Remote Sensing 14 (2): 325. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14020325.

Peng, G., C. Lacagnina, R.R. Downs, A. Ganske, H.K. Ramapdriyan, I. Ivánová, L.Wyborn et al. 2022. Global community guidelines for documenting, sharing, and reusing quality information of individual digital datasets. Data Science Journal 21(1): 8. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2022-008.

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.

Treglia, M. L., T. McPhearson, E. W. Sanderson, G. Yetman and E. Nobel Maxwell. 2022. Examining the distribution of green roofs in New York City through a lens of social, ecological, and technological filters. Ecology and Society 27 (3):20. [online]. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13303-270320

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.

Wolf, M.J., D.C. Esty, H. Kim, M.L. Bell, S. Brigham, Q. Nortonsmith, S. Zaharieva, Z.A. Wendling, A. de Sherbinin, A.W. Emerson. 2022. New insights for tracking global and local trends in exposure to air pollutants. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c08080.

2021

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.

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.

Clement, V., K. K. Rigaud, A. de Sherbinin, B. Jones, S.B. Adamo, J. Schewe, N. Sadiq, E. Shabahat. 2021. Groundswell Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36248.

de Sherbinin, A., A. Bowser, T-R. Chuang, C. Cooper, F. Danielsen, R. Edmunds, P. Elias, E. Faustman, C. Hultquist, et al. 2021. The critical importance of citizen science data. Frontiers in Climate.. 3:650760. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.650760.

Downs, R.R., H.K. Ramapriyan, G. Peng, and Y. Wei Y. 2021. Perspectives on citizen science data quality. Frontiers in Climate.3:615032. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.615032.

Downs, R.R. 2021. Improving opportunities for new value of open data: Assessing and certifying research data repositories. Data Science Journal, 20(1): 1. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-001.

Horton, R., A. de Sherbinin, D. Wrathall, and M. Oppenheimer. 2021. Assessing human habitability and migration. Science 18 (372), Issue 6548: 1279–1283. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi8603.

Klump, J., L. Wyborn, M. Wu, M., J. Martin, R.R. Downs, and A. Asmi. 2021. Versioning data is about more than revisions: A conceptual framework and proposed principles. Data Science Journal, 20(1), p.12. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-012

Kruczkiewicz, A., A. Bucherie, F. Ayala, C. Hultquist, H. Vergara, S. Mason, J. Bazo, and A. de Sherbinin. 2021. Development of a flash flood confidence index from disaster reports and geophysical susceptibility. Remote Sens.13, 2764. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142764

MacManus, K., D. Balk, H. Engin, G. McGranahan, R. Inman. 2021. Estimating population and urban areas at risk of coastal hazards, 1990–2015: How data choices matter. Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss 13 (12): 5747–5801. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5747-2021.

Morrison, C.N., G. D’Ambrosi, A. Kamb, K. MacManus, A.G. Rundle, and D. Humphreys. 2021. Rideshare trips and alcohol-involved motor vehicle crashes in Chicago. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 82(6): 720–729. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2021.82.720.

Palacios-Lopez, D., F. Bachofer, T. Esch, M. Marconcini, K. MacManus, A. Sorichetta, J. Zeidler, S. Dech, A.J. Tatem, and P. Reinartz. 2021. High-resolution gridded population datasets: Exploring the capabilities of the world settlement footprint 2019 imperviousness layer for the African continent. Remote Sensing 13(6): 1142. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13061142.

Rigaud, K.K., A. de Sherbinin, B. Jones, S.B. Adamo, D.Maleki, N.E. Abu-Ata, A.T. Casals Fernandez, A. Arora, T. Chai-Onn, and B. Mills. 2021. Groundswell Africa: Internal Climate Migration in West African Countries.World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36404.

Rigaud, K.K., A. de Sherbinin, B. Jones, S.B. Adamo, D. Maleki, N.E. Abu-Ata, A.T. Casals Fernandez, A. Arora, T. Chai-Onn, and B. Mills. 2021. Groundswell Africa: Internal Climate Migration in the Lake Victoria Basin Countries. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36403.

Stojanov, R., S. Rosengaertner, A. de Sherbinin, and R. Nawrotzki. 2021. Climate mobility and development cooperation. Popul Environ 43: 209–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-021-00387-5.

Tedesco, M., C.G. Hultquist, and A. de Sherbinin. 2021. A new dataset integrating public socioeconomic, physical risk, and housing data for climate justice metrics: a test-case study in Miami. Environmental Justice 00(00). https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0059.

Tuholske, C., B.S. Halpern, G. Blasco, J.C. Villasenor, M. Frazier, and K. Caylor. 2021. Mapping global inputs and impacts from of human sewage in coastal ecosystems. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258898.

Tuholske, C, K Caylor, C. Funk, A.Verdin, S. Sweeney, K.Grace, P.Peterson, and T. Evans. 2021. Global urban population exposure to extreme heat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(41) e2024792118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024792118.

Tuholske, C., A. Gaughan, A. Sorichetta, A. de Sherbinin, A. Bucherie, C. Hultquist, F. Stevens, A. Kruczkiewicz, C. Huyck, and G. Yetman. 2021. Implications for tracking SDG indicator metrics with gridded population data. Sustainability 13(13): 7329. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137329.

Zaitchik, B. and C. Tuholske. 2021. Earth observations of extreme heat events: leveraging current capabilities to enhance heat research and action. Environ. Res. Lett. 16(11): 1002. https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326.

Zhang, L., R.R. Downs, J. Li, L. Wen, and C. Li. 2021. A review of open research data policies and practices in China. Data Science Journal 20(1): 3. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-003.

2020

Bowser, A., C. Cooper, A. de Sherbinin, A.Wiggins, P. Brenton, T.-R. Chuang, E. Faustman, M. Haklay, and M. (Muki) Meloche. 2020. Still in need of norms: The state of the data in citizen science. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. http://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.303.

Bukvic, A, G. Rohat, A. Spotsos, and A. de Sherbinin. 2020. A systematic review of coastal vulnerability mapping. Sustainability 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072822.

de Sherbinin, Alex. 2020. “Impacts of climate change as drivers of migration.” Migration Information Source, October 23, 2020. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/impacts-climate-change-drivers-migration.

Khan, S., R.S. Chen, and A. de Sherbinin. 2020. COREDAR: A coastal climate service framework on sea-level rise risk communication for adaptation policy planning. In Handbook of Climate Services, eds. W.L. Filho and D. Jacob, 85–104. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36875-3.

Khan, S., K. Macmanus, J. Mills, M. Madajewicz, and L. Ramasubramanian. 2020. Building resilience of urban ecosystems and communities to sea-level rise: Jamaica Bay, New York City. In Handbook of Climate Change Resilience, ed. W. L. Filho, 95–115. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93336-8_29.

Lin, D., J. Crabtree, I. Dillo, R.R. Downs. R. Edmunds, D. Giaretta, M. de Giusti, et al. 2020. The TRUST principles for digital repositories. Sci Data 7 (144). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0486-7.

Mayernik, M.S., K. Breseman, R.R. Downs, R. Duerr, R., A. Garretson, C.-Y.Hou, and EDGI and Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Data Stewardship Committee. 2020. Risk assessment for scientific data. Data Science Journal 19(1): 10. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-010.

Pegn, G., C. Lacagnina, R.R. Downs, I. Ivánová. D. Moroni, H. Ramapriyan, Y. Wei, and G. Larnicol. 2020. Laying the groundwork for developing international community duidelines to share and reuse digital data quality information—case statement, workshop summary report, and path forward. Open Science Foundation (OSF) Preprints. https://osf.io/75b92.

Skirbekk, V., A. de Sherbinin, S.B. Adamo, J. Navarro, T. Chai-Onn. 2020. Religious affiliation and environmental challenges in the 21st century. Journal of Religion and Demography 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1163/2589742X-12347110.

Tellman, B., C. Schank, B. Schwarz, and P.D. Howe. 2020. Using disaster outcomes to validate components of social vulnerability to floods: Flood deaths and property damage across the USA. In Climate risk and vulnerability mapping, eds. Alex de Sherbinin and Stefan Kienberger. Special Issue, Sustainability 12(15): 6006. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156006.

Vannan, S., R.R. Downs, B. Wilson, and I. Gerasimov. “Data sets are foundational to research. Why don’t we cite them?” Eos, November 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EO151665.

2019

de Sherbinin, A., A. Bukvic, G. Rohat, M. Gall, B. McCusker, B. Preston, A. Apotsos, et al. 2019. Climate vulnerability mapping: A systematic review and future prospects. WIREs Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.600.

de Sherbinin, A. 2019. Contributing author to chapter two, High mountain areas. In IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere. https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/.

Downs R.R., H.K. Ramapriyan, and Y. Wei. 2019. NASA earth science data system technical note ESDS-RFC-039. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/files/ESDS-RFC-039.pdf.

Gaughan, A.E., T. Oda, A. Sorichetta, F.R. Stevens, M. Bondarenko, R. Bun, L. Krauser, G. Yetman, and S.V. Nghiem. 2019. Evaluating nighttime lights and population distribution as proxies for mapping anthropogenic CO2 emission in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Environmental Research Communications 1(9). https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab3d91.

Kugler, K.A., K. Grace, D. Wrathall, A. de Sherbinin, D. Van Riper, C.  Aubrecht, D. Comer, S. B. Adamo, G. Cervone, R. Engstrom, and C. Hultquist. 2019. People and pixels 20 years later: the current data landscape and research trends blending population and environmental data. Popul Environ 41:209–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-019-00326-5.

Liu, X., A. de Sherbinin, and Y. Zhan. 2019. Mapping urban extent at large spatial scales using machine learning methods with VIIRS nighttime light and MODIS daytime NDVI data. Remote Sens.11:1247. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11101247.

Liu, Z., H.K. Ramapriyan, Y. Wei, C.-L.Shie, D. Moroni, R.R. Downs, T. Habermann et al. 2019. NASA earth science data system technical note ESDS-RFC-034. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/files/ESDS-RFC-034.pdf.

Moroni, D.F., H. Ramapriyan, G. Peng, J. Hobbs, J.C. Goldstein, R.R. Downs, and R. Wolfe et al. 2019. Understanding the various perspectives of Earth science observational data uncertainty. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare. 10271450.

Parr, C., C. Gries, M. O' Brien, R.R. Downs, R. Duerr, R. Koskela, and P. Tarrant, et al. 2019. A discussion of value metrics for data repositories in earth and environmental sciences. Data Science Journal, 18(1):58. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-058.

Ramirez-Reyes, C., K.A. Brauman, R. Chaplin-Kramer, G.L. Galford, S.B. Adamo, C.B. Anderson, and C. Anderson et al. 2019. Reimagining the potential of earth observations for ecosystem services assessments. Science of The Total Environment, 665:1053–1063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.150.

Sathler, D., S.B. Adamo, E. Lima, D.R. Macedo, A. de Sherbinin, and P. Kim-Blanco. Assessing the regional context of migration in the Brazilian Amazon through spatial regression modeling. 2019. Applied Geography. Vol. 109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.10204

Selig, E. R., D.G. Hole, E.H. Allison, K.K. Arkema, M.C. McKinnon, J. Chu, and A. de Sherbinin et al. 2019. Mapping global human dependence on marine ecosystems. Conservation Letters 12 (2). https://doi.org/ 10.1111/conl.12617.

Stockhause, M., M. Juckes, R. Chen, W. Moufouma Okia, A. Pirani, T. Waterfield, X. Xing, and R. Edmunds. 2019. Data distribution centre support for the IPCC: Sixth assessment. Data Science Journal, 18(1): 20. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019–020.

van der Geest, K., A. de Sherbinin, S. Kienberger, Z. Zommers, A. Sitati, E. Roberts and R. James. 2019. The Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services and Resulting Losses and Damages to People and Society. In Loss and damage from climate change: Concepts, methods and policy option, eds. R. Mechler, L.M. Buwer, T. Schinko, S. Surminski, and J. Linnerooth-Bayer. 221–236. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_9.

Watmough, G. R., C.L.J. Marcinko, C. Sullivan, K. Tschirhart, P.K. Mutuo, C.A. Palm, and J.-C. Svenning. 2019. Socioecologically informed use of remote sensing data to predict rural household poverty. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(4): 1213–1218. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812969116.

Wei, Y., H.K. Ramapriyan, R.R. Downs, C-L. Shie, Z. Liu, D. Moroni, T. Habermann et al. 2019. Data quality working group’s comprehensive recommendations for data producers and distributors. NASA Earth Science Data System Technical Note ESDS-RFC-033.

Wrathall, D.J., V. Mueller, P.U. Clark, A. Bell,  M. Oppenheimer, M. Hauer, S. Kulp, E. Gilmore, H. Adams,  R. Kopp, K. Abel, M. Call, J. Chen, and A. deSherbinin et al. 2019. Meeting the looming policy challenge of sea-level change and human migration. Nature Climate Change 9:898–901. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0640-4.

Zhang L., R.R. Downs, J. Li, eds. 2019. Changing data policies in China: Implications for enabling FAIR data. In Big Scientific Data Management. BigSDM 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 11473. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28061-1_28.

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Reports

2023

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. 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.

2022

Brief: Climate Migration in Mexican and Central American Cities. (February 2022, 28 pages, 2.42 MB PDF). This report presents estimates drawn from the important and growing body of research that projects possible climate migration futures at the regional or country scales. Until now, these models have not specifically been applied to urban areas, the primary destination of international and internal migrants and home to 70 percent of the world’s refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and stateless people. CIESIN contributed original research.

2021

 Internal Climate Migration in the Lake Victoria Basin Countries | Internal Climate Migration in West African Countries. (November 2021, 222 pages, 18 KB PDF; and 296 pages, 16 KB PDF). A sequel to the 2018 Groundswell report, the Groundswell Africa series complements the recently released Groundswell II report (see below) 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. Hotspots of internal migration will emerge as soon as 2030, spreading and intensifying thereafter. The research improves and extends the pioneering modeling approach of the previous World Bank Groundswell report from 2018, which covered Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, now focusing on three new regions—North Africa, Central America, and the Lower Mekong—and including reviews of climate migration issues for small island developing states (SIDS) and the Middle East. 

Task Force Report to the President on the Climate Crisis and Global Migration: A Pathway to Protection for People on the Move (July 2021, 34 pages, 817 KB PDF). An outcome of a presidential task force, this report recommends increased funding and expansion of supportive policies to address global migration resulting from the climate change crisis. Alex de Sherbinin, CIESIN senior research scientist and associate director for Science Applications, is among 14 experts from the federal government, the United Nations, and nonprofit agencies, including climate scientists, appointed to the task force, which was formed in response to a Biden administration Executive Order on February 4.

Atlas of the Human Planet 2020 January 2021, 139 pages, 22.7 MB PDF). This report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission presents policy-relevant examples provided by users of Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) products, in the areas of domains of disaster risk reduction and crisis management, environment, urbanization, and sustainable development. CIESIN is among select organizations which showcased applications.

Seizing the Urban Opportunity (March 2021). The second in a series by the Coalition for Urban Transitions on how governments can transform urban frameworks to increase shared prosperity. The report features updated population estimates from the forthcoming NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) Urban Rural Population Estimates version 3 data set. See also below, 2019, for Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity.

2020

Leaving No One Off the Map: A Guide for Gridded Population Data for Sustainable Development (May 2020, 59 pages, 9.26 MB PDF). Executive summary (6 pages, 1.32 MB PDF). A report from the Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN) and CIESIN contributors provides guidance on the use of gridded population datasets from the POPGRID Data Collaborative, of which CIESIN is a member. The report reviews data sets from the Collaborative, including data sets from CIESIN, Esri, and WorldPop Project, among others.

Trzaska, S., E. Boytinck, A. de Sherbinin, S. Smith, and A-L.White. April 2020. Review of Coastal Adaptation Practices in Developing Countries. A report led by CIESIN, published under contract with Tetra Tech for the USAID West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC) project, reviews best practices for coastal adaptation in developing countries. See also http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/wa-bicc/ for more information and publications related to the WA BiCC project.

A Living Manual for Climate Information for Adaptation Planning (May 2020, online). This living manual written by CIESIN researchers is intended for those preparing National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) or specific adaptation interventions, offering guidance for using climate information in the context of adaptation planning. The material was developed in the context of a coastal adaptation project in West Africa—the USAID-funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change project—but recommended for anyone interested in the application of climate information for adaptation planning and development interventions. This web-based resource is called a “living manual” since the contents have been updated based on the needs and feedback of participants in a series of country workshops held in the West Africa region.

Environmental Performance Index 2020 (July 2020, 220 pages, 14 MB pdf). Produced every two years by a research team from the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and CIESIN, Columbia University, the EPI ranks country performance on high-priority environmental issues in two broad policy areas, protection of human health from environmental harm, and protection of ecosystems. The 2020 EPI uses 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories to compare 180 countries.

2019

Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity. (September 2019, 160 pages, 14 MB PDF). A report from the Coalition for Urban Transitions finds that, because sea level rise exacerbates flooding and storm surge, it is a critical threat to urban coastal areas. Research and analysis by Columbia University’s CIESIN contributed to the new findings, based on an updated version of the Low Elevation Coastal Zone Urban Rural Population Estimates. This data set was the outcome of a 2007 study by a team from CIESIN and the International Institute for Environment and Development, which provided the first global estimates of impacts to urban populations from sea level rise.

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