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The Appraising Risk Partnership

A Historical Database of Climatic Crises in the Indian Ocean World

The Historical Database ↗

Maps and Visualizations ↗

One of the goals of the Appraising Risk partnership is to utilize data collected from diverse specialties and disciplines to analyze and visualize the complex relationship between environment, ecology, culture and history in the Indian Ocean World.

The IOW Podcast ↗

The Indian Ocean World Podcast seeks to educate and inform its listeners on topics concerning the relationship between humans and the environment throughout the history of the Indian Ocean World.


Our Project

The Appraising Risk Partnership is an international collaboration of scholars and researchers dedicated to exploring the critical role of climatic crisis in the past and future of the Indian Ocean World. With generous support from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the partnership seeks to create a comprehensive spatial and temporal database of human-environment interaction and interdependence during periods of climatic change.


Latest from the Partnership:


The Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC) is a research initiative and resource base established to promote the study of the history, economy, and cultures of the lands and peoples of the Indian Ocean world (IOW) – from China to Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Our most recent podcast:

Everjoy Chiimba – "Assessing the Potential of Mobile Communication Technologies to Enhance Early Warning and Disaster Preparedness in Zimbabwe" The Indian Ocean World Podcast

In this episode, Sam Gleave Riemann (IOWC, McGill) is joined by Everjoy Grace Chiimba (Bonn), an affiliate of the Appraising Risk project, to discuss her ongoing PhD research into information circulation and social media before, during, and after Cyclone Idai and its devastating effects in Zimbabwe in 2019. Everjoy Grace Chiimba is a PhD Candidate in Geography at the University of Bonn. She holds a BA in Geography and Archeology in 2014 from the University of Zimbabwe and a MSc. In Geography from Bonn and the United Nations University. Links: University Profile: https://kulturgeographie-mainz.de/team/everjoy-chiimba/ 2022 Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103012 The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present." Music: "Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

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