Publications by Jérôme Chenal

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This study examines patterns of digital inclusion in Ziguinchor, Senegal, using household survey data combined with spatial indicators of infrastructure and access. We construct a Digital Inclusion Index (DII) capturing realized digital practices and a Composite Digital Access Score (CDAS) reflecting enabling conditions across six domains, including technological equipment, electricity, affordability, and spatial access. The results reveal substantial variation in digital inclusion across quartiers, with st

Integrating the concept of ecosystem services (ES) into spatial planning is an opportunity to make land use and management choices that maximize the delivery of multiple ES. The assessment of social demand can be useful for the identification of priority a ...

Switzerland is one of the largest producers of municipal solid waste (MSW) per capita. The principle of decoupling attempts to evaluate the relationship between consumption and production, and to measure the relationship between an activity and its impact ...

This study presents a comparative analysis of Early Warning Systems (EWS) in Kenya and Uganda, with a focus on integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and scientific forecasting to enhance climate resilience in the Karamoja cross-border region. Drawing on 10 key informant interviews with institutional actors and five focus group discussions with indigenous community members, we analyzed community perceptions. While Kenya’s EWS is more technologically embedded and institutionally coordinated, leveragi

This research provides an in-depth analysis of drought impacts in West Pokot, Kenya, utilizing both remote sensing surveys and focus group discussions. The study commenced by assessing the impact of drought on vegetation health via spatial sensors. It then utilized surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) to engage farmers from the most drought-affected areas in Kacheliba and Sigor sub-counties. The analysis of remote sensing data from 1990 to 2022 highlighted that Sigor and Kacheliba experienced signific

The West African region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in Africa has over decades experienced rapid rate of urbanization. The urbanization processes have been associated with manifold environmental and socioeconomic challenges including inefficie ...

Background Phenomena like rapid growth, unmanageable cities, an urban space in crisis, and the disproportionate expansion of capital cities have rendered instruments traditionally associated with planned urbanism ill-suited for city planning today. Traditi ...

Climate change continues to undermine agricultural productivity and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder, rain-fed systems predominate. Kenya and Zimbabwe, representing contrasting decentralized and centralized adaptation systems, provide insights into how institutional design shapes agricultural resilience. This study conducts a comparative institutional analysis of climate change adaptation across four dimensions: land tenure, governance structures, access to inputs and resources, and comm

Earthquake events present a high risk in urban areas. Nador City is a Mediterranean city located in a dynamic zone with seismologic movement and a frequency of earthquake events per year. This worrying rate shows that earthquake risks can hinder the urban area and damage citizens and goods if urban risk management is not taken. This study defines the areas most threatened by seismic events to protect them as a priority. Using Geographic Information System, Corine Land Cover, seismic intensity, and socioecon

Moroccan oases, vital ecosystems in arid and semi-arid regions, are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of drought, which severely affect vegetation health and elevate wildfire risks. This study investigates the relationship between drought severity, oasis vegetation vitality, and fire risk across various Moroccan oases. Using satellite remote sensing data, we developed the Aggregated Wildfire Hazard Index (AWHI), which combines the Watershed Integrated Multi-Drought Index (WIMDI), the Vegetation Health

Recurrent droughts, erratic rainfall patterns, and climate-induced livelihood shocks continue to undermine pastoral resilience in the Karamoja Cluster of East Africa. Early Warning Systems (EWS) designed to anticipate drought, rainfall variability, and associated food insecurity have expanded across the region, yet their effectiveness remains constrained by weak integration between scientific forecasting and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), as well as by institutional and communication gaps. This study p

This article explores the escalating impact of natural disasters, particularly droughts, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with a specific focus on Eswatini. Over the last century, approximately 63 million people in SADC countries have ...

Although rapid population growth will give them a significant weight in global urbanization by the middle of the century, African cities remain little known. As a result, they are essentially outside the global intellectual arena on urban issues, which jus ...

Mitigating urban heat islands has become an important objective for many cities experiencing heat waves. Despite notable progress, the spatial relationship between land use and/or land cover patterns and the distribution of air temperature remains poorly u ...

In addition to individual practices and access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, housing conditions may also be associated with the risk of diarrhea. Our study embraced a broad approach to health determinants by looking at housing depriv ...

This study investigates the coastal erosion risks in Saidia city, Northeast Morocco, by analyzing various climatic and marine factors affecting the region. A comprehensive approach is employed to understand and monitor the evolution of the coastline over the time period from 1979 to 2022. The research utilizes a combination of aerial photographs, satellite images and field surveys conducted from 1979 to 2022, processed using QGIS, google earth engine for imagery processing and geospatial analysis. The resul

Ecosystem services (ES) are dynamic over space and time. Understanding and quantifying spatio-temporal trade-offs and synergies among multiples ES, as well identifying the drivers of change provides an opportunity to make the link between ecosystems, polic ...

To a large share of people living in cities of the “Global South”, the lack of access to basic services and infrastructures have turned the urban habitat into a public health hazard. Notably, the lack of basic sanitation infrastructures is a key risk factor to several infectious diseases. For some decades now, slum upgrading projects have been implemented globally as a strategy to enhance living conditions in impoverished settlements, by bringing in basic infrastructures while preserving the human settlemen

Context Urbanization is the most important form of landscape change and is increasingly affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Understanding how landscape patterns change in space and time is central to the evaluation of the environmental impacts ...

This study employs Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to conduct a comparative analysis of agricultural extension systems and community-based climate adaptation strategies in Kenya and Zimbabwe, focusing on sweet potato farming. Both countries face escalating climate threats, prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and land degradation, but differ in institutional design and policy responses. Zimbabwe relies on a centralized extension service, while Kenya’s decentralized framework empowers local leaders and

Jérôme Chenal

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Structural Constraints and Realized Digital Use: Evidence from Ziguinchor, Senegal

Stakeholders’ Perspectives to Support the Integration of Ecosystem Services in Spatial Planning in Switzerland

Decoupling municipal solid waste generation and economic growth in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland

Resilience through Integrated Early Warning Systems in the Karamoja Region of Kenya and Uganda

Resilience and Adaptation Strategies in Response to Drought: A Spatial and Community-Based Study in West Pokot, Kenya

Modelling the dynamics of urbanization for urban sustainability in West Africa

Urbanisation, planification urbaine et modèles de ville en Afrique de l'Ouest : jeux et enjeux de l'espace public

Institutional pathways to climate-resilient agriculture: comparative adaptation governance in Kenya and Zimbabwe

Monitoring Earthquake Risks in Nador, Northeast Morocco

Leveraging Cloud Geospatial Technologies for Drought and Fire Risk Monitoring in Moroccan Oases: A Pathway to IoT-Wildfire Based Digital Twin Platforms

Integrating Indigenous and scientific early warning systems for climate resilience in the Karamoja Cluster of Kenya and Uganda

Geospatial Tools and Remote Sensing Strategies for Timely Humanitarian Response: A Case Study on Drought Monitoring in Eswatini

Analyzing four decades of literature on urban planning studies in Africa (1980–2020)

A spatially explicit approach to simulate urban heat mitigation with InVEST (v3.8.0)

Spatial Distributions of Diarrheal Cases in Relation to Housing Conditions in Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Environmental Monitoring and Nature-Based Solution of Coastal Erosion Risks in Saidia City, Northeast Morocco

Historical dynamics of ecosystem services and land management policies in Switzerland

Shared sanitation and safety issues in impoverished urban settlements: design implications for slum upgrading projects

Spatiotemporal patterns of urbanization in three Swiss urban agglomerations: insights from landscape metrics, growth modes and fractal analysis

Modelling Resilience: Extension and Community-Based Adaptation in Kenya and Zimbabwe