Supported by the International Organization for Migration, the project uses satellite-based soil moisture insights to strengthen early warning systems in one of Africa’s most climate-exposed regions
Spire Global, Inc., a global provider of space-based data analytics and space services, today announced it was selected by GIST Research (GIST), an independent research and advisory consultancy specializing in fragile and climate-affected contexts, to provide its Soil Moisture Insights for a study mapping climate-driven pastoralist movement in Ethiopia’s Somali Region. The data will feed into the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Transhumance Tracking Tool (TTT), a system designed by the UN Agency to observe herder movements and mitigate conflict risks.
Supported by IOM, with funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the pilot aims to strengthen early warning systems that monitor environmental and livelihood stress in one of Africa’s most climate-exposed regions, where scarce resources can heighten competition and foster tension between pastoralist communities. The resulting insights are expected to inform evidence-based policies, guide authorities and partners in their interventions, and contribute to conflict prevention efforts.
Pastoral communities in Ethiopia’s Somali Region have long relied on mobility to sustain their herds, moving in search of rainfall, pasture, and water. Increasing climate variability is making these movements less predictable, with changing rainfall patterns shaping when and where herders travel.
Utilizing five years of Spire’s high-resolution Soil Moisture Insights, GIST, in collaboration with IOM, combined in-depth field research and extensive on-the-ground consultations to map out conflict dynamics and trace how rainfall, water, and soil conditions influence pastoralist mobility across thousands of kilometers of rangeland. The findings highlight how soil moisture fluctuations shape herd movements and how space-based data can visualize the same environmental signals that pastoralists have long used to decide where to move next, following the clouds in search of rain and fresh pasture.
“The communities we speak with often describe their choice to move as ‘following the clouds,’” said Romain Galgani, Senior Research Lead at GIST. “With satellite observations, we’re able to use technology to carry that tradition forward: studying and analyzing the same patterns through data and helping translate them into information that supports timely, local decisions.”
“Pastoral mobility is one of the oldest forms of climate adaptation,” said Sascha Nlabu, IOM Ethiopia Head of Programmes. “Across the Somali Region, herders depend on rapid decisions about when and where to move livestock. By reinforcing that intuition with reliable data, we are bridging centuries-old knowledge with modern satellite technology.”
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