ucdp prio armed conflict database the onset dataset

Notable efforts in this regard include the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED) 14, UCDP’s Geographic Event Data dataset (GED) 15, the PITF’s Worldwide Atrocity Dataset (WAD) 16, and the Social Conflict in Africa Dataset (SCAD) 17. While earlier work relied on country level indicators, quantitative and mixed methods researchers turn to geographically disaggregated data to capture subnational conflict dynamics 12, 13. This is especially true for environmental conflict analysis, which examined the impact of temperature 1, 2, precipitation 3, 4, 5, food (in)security 6, 7, 8, water (in)security 9, and environmental migrants 10, 11, among others. Quantitative, mixed methods, and even qualitative social scientists increasingly rely on high resolution data to study local-level political and economic development.

Using a series of comparative regressions at the grid-month and grid-year levels, combined with reporting descriptive statistics and visualizations, we illustrate that this temporally and geographically disaggregated dataset provides valuable extensions for research related to the climate-conflict nexus and the role of socioeconomic features in shaping conflict trends, as well as for research and data-driven policy on development and conflict.

Afro-Grid offers several important extensions for researchers and policymakers, including: (i) standardizing (using established methods) data sources on conflict, environmental stress, and socio economic factors across spatial and temporal scales (ii) combining these data into a single, openly-available file, maximizing the accessibility of these data for researchers and policymakers regardless of their software background and (iii) including NDVI and dual-series harmonized night lights series that have traditionally not been accessible to researchers without advanced computational expertise. In this study, we present Afro-Grid: an integrated, disaggregated 0.5-degree grid-month dataset on conflict, environmental stress, and socioeconomic features in Africa covering 1989–2020, intended to propel research on these issues forward.

Ucdp prio armed conflict database the onset dataset