John Wain is part of the Division for Resilience and Solution’s Technical Support Section at UNHCR. His role, in the context of population displacement, includes surge capacity for Refugee and Internally Displaced People (IDP) emergency responses. He also accompanies the first phases of emergency response while other teams get up to strength with more mid-term solutions. A lot of that from a refugee context is settlement planning: new arrivals and large influx of refugees needing to find a solution from various types of settlements. John Wain explains how Earth Observation (EO) and remote sensing supports the first phase of settlement planning:  “What is informing a site plan is a map and the first step for that is assessment site, satellite imagery, topographical surveys, hazard risk analysis. We have built up a rapport with UNOSAT for getting rapid satellite imagery and site analysis to enable site planning to start”.

“There are others who provide these geospatial services and new partnerships emerging, but thanks to our global agreement with UNITAR, our go-to agency has been UNOSAT for this particular type of support.”

In 2019 a global agreement was signed between UNHCR and UNITAR, consolidating and expanding from a previous agreement signed in 2011. In practice, these agreements guarantee UNHCR access to the latest products and services implemented by UNOSAT for human rights mapping. As a result, Mr. Wain and his team were able to quickly receive from UNOSAT the images and data needed. In support of the TSS multi-sectoral team, UNOSAT provided various images and types of analysis for 23 refugee settlements in 13 countries. From hydrological data for flood hazard analysis to landcover analysis and elevation maps to know the typography of the location, all these are critical for site planning and supported the process in each of the 23 locations. This agreement also allowed to save time and resources otherwise spent on the question of cost for sometimes very expensive satellite imagery, says John Wain.

To illustrate the collaboration between UNOSAT and his team, John Wain mentions the situation in the Sudanese-Ethiopian border with the large number of refugees escaping since November 2020 the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, and arriving in Sudan. To relocate them, the government had selected a site that was potentially concerning, but the information necessary for a flood risk assessment was scarce. Mr. Wain contacted UNOSAT to support with satellite imagery derived flood analysis, to assess whether the location was prone to flood. Quickly, it was established that it indeed was, which prompted UNHCR to introduce a mitigation plan and make sure that the refugees were protected from potential climate-related hazards.

As was the case in Tigray, Mr Wain highlights that the lack of data is a common challenge for national and regional emergency management authorities. Therefore, satellite-derived products received by UNHCR on the ground can be shared with local authorities. However, an even bigger and common challenge John Wain experiences is the lack of capacity to access and use the data. Indeed, many of the technical officers in the field do not have the resources or training to open, process, and digest the information. As a bridge between Geneva and the field, he provided feedback and efforts were made to share the data in formats that are accessible. Nonetheless, a considerable need for training remains for local authorities, and to make geospatial technology and data more user-friendly and accessible.