SHIELD is a research chair dedicated to understanding how environmental change shapes human welfare. By combining satellite Earth observation with rigorous quantitative methods from economics and the social sciences, the chair produces new data and evidence on the mechanisms linking environmental dynamics—land use, resource extraction, climate variability—to conflict, inequality, and development outcomes.

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Its work is centered around 4 pillars: Environment & Deforestation, Agriculture & Food Security, Natural Resources: Minerals and Water, and Urbanization & Population Movements.

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SHIELD is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and hosted within CERGIC.