Since its founding, this international collective of academics and civil society organisations has advanced the use of satellite analysis to document the humanitarian and environmental consequences of damage from wars and natural hazard-induced disasters. Their findings have been used by journalists and policymakers to assess the damage to agricultural land, built-up areas, forests, water infrastructure and solid waste management in conflict zones including Palestine (with a focus on Gaza), Ukraine, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, as well as fire damage in Los Angeles.
More accessible and more useful
Using publicly available satellite imagery from ESA’s Sentinel constellation, NASA’s Landsat and MODIS programs, and commercial satellite data providers, alongside broader open-source data, DDMG is building the science, practice, and partnerships to make EO-driven conflict damage assessments faster, more accessible, and more useful for response, recovery, and long-term environmental monitoring in conflict settings.
‘Earth observation is an essential tool for PAX to monitor environmental dimensions of armed conflicts,’ says Marie Schellens, Remote Sensing expert at PAX. ‘Our work with DDMG is an essential space to collaborate over institutional, sectoral and national boundaries towards better use of ESA’s EO data in support of the most vulnerable, conflict-affect communities worldwide. Because such transdisciplinary collaboration is not without practical challenges, we are very proud that ESA recognizes its relevance with the Earth Observation Excellence Award and grateful for the support look for ways to continue this work.’
DDMG’s findings have had wide uptake by the global news media, spurred conversations with the humanitarian community, and catalyzed new research for armed conflict impact assessments. With this award, DDMG aims to bolster its methods, develop new research directions and collaborations, and expand outreach to industry, academic, humanitarian, and the Earth observation community, while also contributing to wider dissemination and education on the use of remote sensing data with civil society groups and activists in conflict-affected areas. With these advancements, DDMG is poised to improve our understanding of and strengthen accountability for the wider environmental and climate dimensions of war.
‘We established DDMG in Fall 2023 to bring together Earth observation experts regardless of academic discipline or sector and collaboratively monitor the impacts of armed conflict on communities and landscapes around the world,’ says Jamon van der Hoek from Oregon State University, ‘The open data provided by ESA has simply been invaluable in building transparent and scalable approaches that can be communicated with technical and non-technical users alike.’
The Award Ceremony will take place on 25 June 2025 during the ESA Living Planet Symposium in Vienna, where there will also be various sessions on conflict and environmental damages with members of the DDMG presenting. For more information see the Living Planet website and program.
The Award is a recognition of the broader research-based advocacy work PAX is undertaking to document the environmental impact of war. In 2024, NASA Lifelines provided PAX with financial support to bring together experts and develop guidelines on the use of remote sensing to map environmental impacts and support humanitarian response.
Participating Groups:
- Oregon State University (USA)
- Kent State University (USA)
- San Francisco State University (USA)
- Johns Hopkins University (USA)
- Lund University (Sweden)
- FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)
- PAX (The Netherlands)
- Humanitarian Openstreet Map Team (HOT) (International)
- Conflict and Environment Observatory (United Kingdom)
