Syria Mapping Project at the Carter Center
On Friday we will be very fortunate to hear from Christopher McNaboe of the Carter Center about the Syria Mapping Project. The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering. It seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health. Founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Atlanta-based Carter Center has helped to improve the quality of life for people in more than 80 countries.
Since 2012, the Syria Conflict Mapping Project has worked to analyze open source information related to the Syrian conflict in as much detail as possible, with the goal of assisting mediators and humanitarian responders. Using these publicly available resources, as well as regular consultations with stakeholders in the country, the Center has documented and mapped over 70,000 conflict events in Syria (including clashes, aerial bombardments, artillery shelling, etc.), the changing relations between thousands of armed groups, movements of internally displaced people, and humanitarian conditions.
Analyzed together, this information allows The Carter Center to provide mediators and humanitarian responders with up-to-date, detailed analysis on developments throughout Syria. Additionally, the Center maintains a near real-time, auto-updating map of areas of control throughout Syria. All of this information is analyzed and is shared directly with mediators and humanitarian organizations through a software tool.
Chris joined The Carter Center in 2012 as an intern and then graduate assistant in the Conflict Resolution Program. During that time, he developed what is now the Syria Conflict Mapping project, and he joined the program to formalize and expand the project in December 2012. He primarily works on Syria-related initiatives, but occasionally assists with other peace program activities.
Chris is a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen but has spent the majority of his life abroad, growing up in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Kuwait before coming to the United States at the outset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since that time, McNaboe has lived in several countries while pursuing his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Prior to coming to the Center, he worked as a mediator and interpreter in the Superior Court of California and with community-building projects with Palestinian and Lebanese youth in Lebanon.
Chris holds two bachelor's degrees in politics and language studies (linguistics and Spanish), as well as a master's degree in international policy studies with a concentration in conflict resolution from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He speaks English, Spanish, and Arabic.