Satellite and Mobile Phone Data Reveal Consequences of Conflict in Afghanistan

Oregon Convention Center 

Beyond immediate loss of life and physical destruction, violent conflict affects societies in myriad ways. Few avenues exist to generate comprehensive, fine-grained data under poor security conditions. Vulnerable populations, such as displaced people, are often under-represented in surveys and official statistics. These difficulties in data collection complicate efforts to study the consequences of conflict and the design of policies to assist vulnerable individuals. This talk will discuss the use of anonymized high-frequency mobile phone data to measure migration, and satellite imagery to infer the timing of agricultural harvests and map illicit cultivation in Afghanistan. Together, these enable us to study the impact of violence on internal displacement and seasonal labor flows, and the local socioeconomic conditions surrounding illicit cultivation. These examples illustrate the potential for non-traditional data sources to facilitate research and policy making in conflict settings.