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Recent estimates suggest that more than 40 million people worldwide are in situations of modern slavery and other forms of labor exploitation. UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 addresses this problem and urges stakeholders to take effective measures to end all forms of labor exploitation by 2030. Labor exploitation is often a direct consequence of forced migration, and humanitarian operations have a key role to play in tackling this issue worldwide. Academic research can facilitate this by providing the necessary decision-making tools to support antislavery practitioners in humanitarian organizations and governments. For effective resource allocation, these practitioners need tools to help them systematically identify and assess the risks of labor exploitation in an area. In this paper, we develop a multi-method approach that combines various data sources to capture the issue’s complex and multidimensional nature. Through satellite remote sensing, we first identify 50 informal settlements hosting migrant workers in the strawberry production area of Southern Greece. We then apply a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method to a subset of six informal settlements in order to evaluate their labor exploitation risks based on eight criteria. In addition to being practically implemented by a humanitarian organization and a government agency in Greece, our paper advances research on humanitarian operations and labor exploitation by elucidating how a multi-method approach can be used for data-driven prioritization of interventions against labor exploitation. Our approach offers opportunities for other applications in the field of humanitarian operations.

Irregular migration has become a major macro-economic and political challenge. Due to rising political conflicts and income inequality across the world, the number of migrants is expected to increase exponentially over the coming decade. Thus, it is of critical importance to effectively use the limited resources allocated to humanitarian operations for irregular migration. In this paper we model the problem of capacity management and migrant transfers within a network of migrant accommodation centres with stochastic dynamic programming. Our study extends the literature on stochastic modelling and humanitarian operations by applying Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) into a new context. The model is translatable in other similar migratory routes and locations around the world where governments need to deal with uncertain numbers of irregular migrants. We test our approach on five Greek islands which have been the main migrant arrival points during the European Migrant Crisis. The results show that ADP provides a better computational performance than a simple myopic heuristic. The sensitivity analysis gives insights to the decision-makers about the impact of parameter values on the policies.

The Aneto, located on the Maladeta Massif (Central Pyrenees), is the largest glacier of the Pyrenees. The glacier is 675m long, occupies an area of 48.64 ha and has a maximum altitude of 3269m. In this study, we present a detailed area, volume, ice thickness, and Equilibrium Line Altitude reconstruction of the glacier for different periods (LIA, 1957, 1983, 2000, 2006, 2015, and 2017) and analyze its retreat. To estimate the glacier extent during the LIA, the moraines were mapped by using photo interpretation techniques whereas for the recent stages digital satellite images and aerial photographs were used. Moreover, we estimated the topography of the glacier using a simple steady-state model that assumes a perfectly plastic ice rheology, which allowed reconstructing the theoretical ice profiles of the glacier. To reconstruct the ice surface, a digital elevation model was created and combined with the bedrock topography in order to obtain the ice thickness of each stage. The results of the study reveal a considerable retreat of the Aneto Glacier since the LIA. The length of the glacier has reduced from 1970 to 675m from LIA to2017, and its tongue has retreated from 2385 to 3029ma.s.l. Furthermore, the glaciated area has been reduced from 245 to 48.64 ha from LIA to 2017 and the ELA has risen from 2919 to 3139ma.s.l. The data obtained indicates that in the LIA–2017period the glacier volume has been reduced from 82.57m×106m3 to 3.48m×106m3 and the maximum ice thickness from 95 to 27m. We also reconstructed the climatic conditions, showing an increase in temperature of ~1.14°C from LIA to 2017. These data reveal a vast retreat of the glacier since the LIA, which has accelerated since the 1980’s and even more since the year 2000. El Aneto, situado en el Macizo de la Maladeta (Pirineo Central), es el mayor glaciar de los Pirineos. El glaciar tiene 675 m de largo, ocupa un área de 48,64 ha y tiene una altitud máxima de 3269 m. En este estudio, presentamos una reconstrucción detallada del área, el volumen, el espesor del hielo y la altitud de la línea de equilibrio del glaciar para diferentes períodos (LIA, 1957, 1983, 2000, 2006, 2015 y 2017) y analizamos su retroceso. Para estimar la extensión de los glaciares durante la LIA, se cartografiaron las morrenas utilizando técnicas de fotointerpretación mientras que para las etapas recientes se utilizaron imágenes digitales de satélite y fotografías aéreas. Además, estimamos la topografía del glaciar utilizando un modelo de estado estacionario simple que asume una reología de hielo perfectamente plástica, lo que permitió reconstruir los perfiles de hielo teóricos del glaciar. Para reconstruir la superficie del hielo, Se creó un modelo de elevación digital y se combinó con la topografía del lecho rocoso para obtener el espesor del hielo de cada etapa. Los resultados del estudio revelan un retroceso considerable del Glaciar Aneto desde la LIA. La longitud del glaciar se ha reducido de 1970 a 675 m desde LIA a 2017, y su lengua ha retrocedido de 2385 a 3029 m snm Además, el área glaciar se ha reducido de 245 a 48,64 ha desde LIA a 2017 y la ELA ha aumentado de 2919 a 3139 m snm Los datos obtenidos indican que en el período LIA-2017 el volumen del glaciar se ha reducido de 82,57 m × 106 m 3 a 3,48 m × 10 6 m 3 y el espesor máximo de hielo de 95 a 27 m. También reconstruimos las condiciones climáticas, mostrando un aumento de temperatura de ~1.14°C desde el LIA hasta 2017. Estos datos revelan un gran retroceso del glaciar desde el LIA, que se ha acelerado desde la década de 1980 y aún más desde el año 2000. UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Sociales::Facultad de Ciencias Sociales::Escuela de Geografía

Glaciers of the Bolivian Andes represent an important water resource for Andean cities and mountain communities, yet relatively little work has assessed changes in their extent over recent decades. In many mountain regions, glacier recession has been accompanied by the development of proglacial lakes, which can pose a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hazard. However, no studies have assessed the development of such lakes in Bolivia despite recent GLOF incidents here. Our mapping from satellite imagery reveals an overall areal shrinkage of 228.1 ± 22.8 km2 (43.1 %) across the Bolivian Cordillera Oriental between 1986 and 2014. Shrinkage was greatest in the Tres Cruces region (47.3 %), followed by the Cordillera Apolobamba (43.1 %) and Cordillera Real (41.9 %). A growing number of proglacial lakes have developed as glaciers have receded, in accordance with trends in most other deglaciating mountain ranges, although the number of ice-contact lakes has decreased. The reasons for this are unclear, but the pattern of lake change has varied significantly throughout the study period, suggesting that monitoring of future lake development is required as ice continues to recede. Ultimately, we use our 2014 database of proglacial lakes to assess GLOF risk across the Bolivian Andes. We identify 25 lakes that pose a potential GLOF threat to downstream communities and infrastructure. We suggest that further studies of potential GLOF impacts are urgently required.