Satellite Data for Human and Environmental Protection and Life Improvement

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Who?

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The SHIELD Chair is a research initiative developed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Center for Economic Research on Governance, Inequality and Conflict (CERGIC), hosted by the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. The Institut Louis Bachelier provides the administrative and financial management framework for the Chair. The Chair brings together researchers working at the intersection of satellite data, environmental change, economic development, and human well-being.

 

Why?

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Environmental change, resource scarcity, and rapid demographic transformations are reshaping human living conditions across the world. Deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, food insecurity, mining expansion, water stress, urbanization, and forced migration all affect livelihoods, health, education, mobility, and social stability, with particularly severe consequences in low-income and climate-vulnerable regions. The SHIELD Chair aims to better understand these interconnected challenges by studying how environmental and economic shocks affect populations, territories, and institutions. Its objective is to produce rigorous scientific evidence that can inform policies promoting sustainable development, resilience, and human well-being.

 

How?

 

Satellite data provide a unique tool to observe these transformations with precision, consistency, and global coverage. High-resolution Earth observation makes it possible to monitor environmental degradation, agricultural production, natural-resource extraction, water availability, urban expansion, and population movements. By combining satellite imagery with micro-level socioeconomic data, the SHIELD Chair seeks to quantify the impacts of environmental and economic shocks on human living conditions, identify vulnerable populations and territories, and support evidence-based decision-making for human and environmental protection.