For the second year in a row, we are delighted to be awarded a place on this prestigious list of companies - for our use of geospatial analysis and earth observation to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people and achieve the SDGs. Geoawesomeness is the world’s largest geospatial community united by its belief in the power of location technology to transform the world for the better. On January 30th, they announced their annual list of the best geospatial comp

Will They, Won’t They? What do we actually know about the coming opium poppy season and what both farmers and the Taliban will do?

Today around 4,500 children die from water related diseases every day and millions of people don't have access to clean water. Water is essential for agriculture and food security and every year drought drives millions of people of people from their homes. Using data from satellites imaging the globe from space, we monitor water availability and drought across fragile regions. This short video shows you how we do this and how we can help you achieve your water resource man

Map showing impact of June 2022 earthquake in Afghanistan and location of houses affected.

Will the Taliban's efforts to control drugs succeed?

How the Kamal Khan Dam is causing violence and conflict between Iran and Afghanistan In 1974 construction of a new hydroelectric dam began on the Helmand River in the Chahar Burjak District of Nimroz Province in Southwest Afghanistan. However, it wasn't inaugurated until 2021, just months before the Taliban’s takeover of the country. The ambition for the dam is to irrigate 175,000 hectares of agricultural land whilst producing 9 MW of electric power. It remains to be seen whe

“Data and technology – including geospatial technology and satellite imagery – clearly have the potential to improve global peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts" Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive ODI At the invitation of HE Dame Barbara Woodward, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations , and current President of the United Nations Security Council, ODI ’s Chief Executive Sara Pantuliano addressed members of the UN's Security Coun

“We inform all farmers…that, poppy cultivation isn’t allowed after today. If anyone cultivates poppy, their land will be eradicated & the person arrested by the government. In addition: use, trade, transport, production, import and export of all types of drugs…isn’t allowed” This is like travelling back more than 20 years without any of the benefits of youth. As with the Taliban ban before, it seems to be more about geopolitics and leveraging development assistance -perhaps m

I am delighted to share the news that Alcis has received an Esri High Impact Award in recognition of the ‘innovation and excellence’ delivered by Alcis on current issues around the world over the last 12 months. This impact has been achieved through our provision of high-quality data, products and services to a range of decision makers working in extremely fragile and challenging environments, which in turn supports them to make more effective, evidence based, data driven

The economic crisis is wreaking havoc on the Afghan population. Since the Taliban takeover, the Afghani has depreciated by a third, the price of basic food items has more than doubled and large numbers of public sector employees have found themselves without pay. However, there is a part of the economy that is prospering, bolstered by the Taliban’s intervention. In the 1st week of December 2021, the Taliban banned the harvesting of ephedra in the provinces of Ghor, Farah, N

Since the Taliban take over in August last year, there has been increasing rhetoric on both sides around the highly contentious fence the Pakistan Government has now nearly completed along the length of its border with Afghanistan. In recent months, several social media posts have attempted to infer that the Afghan Taliban have been dismantling the fence in places where it has been constructed. These would appear to be mostly posturing. It is notable then that a video and p

The cost of the economic crisis in Afghanistan will be borne far beyond the country’s borders. The Afghan population is suffering from economic crisis and drought, with rural people especially vulnerable. They lack functioning markets for legal cash crops, public sector employment has collapsed and the private sector, once buoyed by international spending, is imploding. Many are trying to escape, leaving the country in large numbers via Zaranj in the South West of the countr

So Wrong for So Long: Estimating Insurgency Funding in Afghanistan and the Political Economy of Reporting

The numbers of migrants departing Zaranj in Nimroz for Pakistan en route to Iran has increased exponentially. Reports indicate most are...

‘Geospatial’ is not about surveyors but users, not about imagery but integration, not about data but knowledge. And geospatial knowledge...

Media coverage is growing about how border checks, informal taxation and control over the flow of trade supported the Taliban's recent...

Border checks, informal taxation and control over the flow of trade played a significant role in the Taliban’s consolidation of power As...

Value chain mapping and visualisation of the talc, fuel and transit trade in Afghanistan In the areas of Afghanistan where minerals and...

First-ever globally coordinated funding appeal for geospatial activities aims to support COVID-19 vaccine delivery "Rolling out a vaccine...

Up to $100 Million Up in Smoke with Further Losses Downwind. The Economic Effects of the fire at Islam Qala