The RIVAF-project had a special focus on the impact of the GEC as detected through impacts related to disasters. One of the broad objectives of this project was to understand how the impacts of disasters of natural origin may be potential indicators of the GEC impacts. Guatemala, like other countries of the world, has experienced droughts in recent decades. The two most recent episodes were the 2001/2002 and the 2009/2010 droughts.
Two international crises before the Global Economic Crisis triggered effects that were detected at the national and local levels. The sharp drop in prices of coffee in the international stock market in 2000/2002 triggered a large increase in unemployment and led to tax revenue losses. The international oil and food crisis (IO&FC) in 2006-2008 impacted the prices of essential products such as corn and fuels.
The project aimed to assess the impact of the GEC on livelihoods, poverty, vulnerability and disasters in Guatemala, and the effects of such impacts in increasing vulnerability and disasters.
Based on the hypothesis that the GEC negatively affected livelihoods, increased poverty conditions and subsequently increased vulnerability to natural disasters; an ontology was developed to link these parameters and to model how the GEC could impact them. The ontology proposes that elements such as livelihoods may be at risk when they are vulnerable and exposed to a hazard. Other elements at risk may include infrastructure, processes, services, communities, etc.
Brian Tomaszewski, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Information Sciences & Technologies, Rochester Institute of Technology
Introduction
This paper presents an overview of the research project “A Visual Analytics Approach to Understanding Poverty Assessment through Disaster Impacts in Africa” that is supported by the Global Pulse Rapid Impact and Vulnerability Analysis Fund (RIVAF) and at the time of this writing, is being implemented by UNOOSA and its partners.
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