What Are the Emerging Challenges for Community-Based Landslide Risk Reduction in Developing Countries?: Fid-Bau Portal

What Are the Emerging Challenges for Community-Based Landslide Risk Reduction in Developing Countries?

Anderson, Malcolm G. / Holcombe, Elizabeth / Holm-Nielsen, Niels / Della Monica, Rossella

Abstract

Despite the acceptance of disaster risk reduction polices among governments and donor agencies, and their integration into development policies, disaster risk is accumulating. Urban landslide risk accumulation and the relative lack of before-the-event landslide hazard mitigation measures on the ground is of particular concern. This paper seeks to identify the emerging challenges for effective community-based, landslide risk reduction in developing countries. Failure to do so will result in continued landslide risk accumulation especially in vulnerable urban communities. Here, the basis for identifying such emerging challenges comes from on-the-ground delivery of community-based landslide risk reduction measures in multiple locations in the Eastern Caribbean, involving $∼ US $ 6$ million investment in construction of surface-water management measures. From that work, three landslide risk drivers are identified, and from these three groups of challenges emerge, relating to recognition of the evidence of effective hazard mitigation efforts, local adoption, and standards for implementation of mitigation measures. The taxonomy herein developed affirms the need for disaster risk–reduction researchers and practitioners to develop future environmental scenarios as the basis for modeling landslide triggers in vulnerable communities.