Welcome to the geotide project.
The aim of geotide is to assess the costs of destroyed telecom infrastructure, both in terms of the direct impact (e.g., destroyed assets) and indirect impact (e.g., lost value added activities)? By producing such evidence it is possible to better design infrastructure investments and policies which more adequately account for conflict dynamics in conflict economies.
The initial research involved in this project focuses on the Sahel area in West Africa, specifically Mali, Burkina Faso and western Niger. Unfortunately, armed insurgencies have had notable impacts on infrastructure, with Boko Haram militants explicitly targeting telecommunication infrastructure assets.
Access to infrastructure is key in conflicts, but little is known about the extent to which conflicts disrupt and destroy infrastructure or how infrastructure affects the dynamics of conflicts in the short and long terms.
Indeed, conflicts can have a significant impact on infrastructure usage through asset destruction, lack of maintenance, higher prices, and service disruptions. Hitherto, these costs have rarely been measured.
Infrastructure disruption can lead to reduced domestic integration (i.e., lack of access to services, reduction of trade) and negative productivity shocks for economic activities. Better understanding and assessing the severity of these effects is key to designing better policies for fragile context, in particular:
- The mechanisms through which conflicts affect infrastructure and development.
- The impact of conflict on private sector investments.
- The role of private investments in the reconstruction of fragile states.
The method utilized within the geotide project is illustrated below and focuses on assessing both the direct and indirect costs to conflict-economies.
Data mapped from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) provides information on telecommunication infrastructure damage by latitude-longitude coordinate, date, actor(s) and associated fatalities resulting from political violence and protests around the world. Here the data are visualized for The Sahel region of West Africa, specifically Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
