The Decentralized Damage Mapping Group (DDMG) is an international collaborative initiative leveraging Earth Observation (EO) datasets for damage assessment in conflict and disaster-affected regions. The core team comprises 14 members with expertise in EO data processing, applications, and communication who come from a broad range of backgrounds, including academia, humanitarian NGOs, and open source journalism. DDMG develops novel EO methodologies to rigorously assess the impacts of wars on the environment. Through their research using ESA’s Sentinel constellation satellites, including Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, as well as other civilian and commercial sensors, they have brought awareness to the utility and limitations of EO data in mapping the impacts of war, which has received widespread media attention. DDMG has recently documented urban, infrastructural, and agricultural damage across some of the most dynamic armed conflict environments in recent memory, including Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, northern Israel, and Lebanon. They also use EO data to map direct and indirect environmental effects of armed conflict, such as solid waste dumping and WASH infrastructure damage, dam collapse, and conservation and ecosystem impacts in diverse conflict settings. DDMG research thus provides important information for humanitarian response and reconstruction efforts. Looking forward, the group aims to expand the infrastructure and environmental damage assessment monitoring in other active and historic armed conflict settings, deepen collaborations with humanitarian actors and journalists, and further develop EO capacity in conflict-affected communities.

Other team members not included in this nomination: Raphaela Edler, Zhanpei Fang, Amergin McDavid, Jessie Pechman, Brian Perlman, Lama Ranjous, Dr David Saah, Rob Watson, Dr He Yin, and Wim Zwijnenburg.