An Earth Observation-based Approach for the Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Refugee and IDP Camps

Abstract

Natural resources play a vital role for the well-being of the population of refugee and inter-nally displaced persons (IDP) camps. An assessment of the environmental impact of these camps is important to sustain available resources and mitigate possible conflicts with host communities due to uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources. This paper presents a multi-stage Earth observation-based approach to assess and monitor environmental changes in the surrounding of refugee/IDP camps, consisting of rapid overview analyses, detailed land cover change investigations, and an evaluation of the implications of observed en-vironmental changes for human well-being and ecosystem integrity.