Exploring the impact of climate change on population dynamics using the TerraPop data

Climate change related increases in droughts, storms, and floods adversely affect rural livelihoods in developing countries. In the face of livelihood insecurity, people employ various livelihood strategies including in situ (changes in farming practice, selling of assets, drawing on social networks) and ex situ (migration) strategies. A new data extract system - TerraPop - was designed to facilitate research on population-environment interactions through the combination of raster-based environmental data and population microdata. An example of a research project to investigate the impact of climate change on international outmigration from countries in Latin America and Africa showcases possible applications of TerraPop.