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A change detection method to monitor the scorched-earth tactics - in Darfur.

 

This novel use of Landsat data is the most realistic mean to monitor and document the human abuses taking place in Darfur. Compared to VHR data  - this method is approximatly 100 times cheaper - it produces information on villages status :

recently burnt, unchange or left - furthermore, it can quickly reveal whats going on in the no-go zones of Darfur or elsewhere.

 

The method was developed during a study for Amnesty, it was based upon change detection between 2003 and 2004 where

the satellite images have been recorded under the same environmental conditions and found that 44% of the villages in the

region covered were burnt. 352 villages were analysed by comparing the albedo from the two images. 155 of these have strong

indications of the burning, 125 have no significant change, 61 have some change, and seven of the remaining 11

have some change that can be linked to burning before March 2003. The method has been verifyed with an overall

accuracy above 98%.

 

                 

Plotting of burnt villages  from the Landsat study - compared to initial efforts made US HIU by the use of

VHR data. 

 

Change detection of albedo revealed large scale burning of villages - dubble rings indicate villages

co-observed by the Landsat / VHR.

 

The study was used for and had impact on:

  • Main input in Amnesty Internationals report "Sudan: At the mercy of the killers - destruction of villages in Darfur" the 2' July 2004.

  • Presented in UN's security council the same week-end.

  • On the African Unions meeting the week after.

  • Used by UN organizations, governments, NGO's and press in several countries.

  • Assisted in the final pressure that open up for help organizations, international monitoring and the AU union force.

Awarded the 2005 Nairobi prize by 90 journalists for the most important news for developing countries.

 

Client: Amnesty International.

 

Report link: : http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr540722004

PRINS, E (2008): Use of low cost Landsat ETM to spot burnt villages in Darfur, Sudan.. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29 (04), pp. 1207 - 1214. DOI: 10.1080 / 01431160701730110

Nature 2008:  Satellite can spot razed villages in Darfur Published online 11 March 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.663. http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080311/full/news.2008.663.html  

Ingenøren 2008: Dansk fotoanalyse afslører afbrændte landsbyer http://ing.dk/artikel/86382 

TV: Danish Radio (DR2) Deadline 17 and Science program .  Both on developed  method to trace burnt villages in Darfur 22/4-2008.  

Satellite can spot razed villages in Darfur; Free imaging data could rapidly pinpoint some human-rights violations. March 12, 2008 at 10:40 am | In Remote Sensing Law Current Events | by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz

Humanitarian info: on the fantastic work of Erik Prins for Amnesty International on monitoring burnt villages using remote sensing. Amnesty used his research as part of their campaigning back in 2004-5, but Erik has just published an article, Use of low cost Landsat ETM+ to spot burnt villages in Darfur, Sudan, in the International Journal of Remote Sensing. The research is right on the mark,  http://www.humanitarian.info/category/sudan

 

 

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