State-of-the-art on ecosystem-based solutions for disaster risk reduction: The case of gravity-driven natural hazards in the Alpine region

Abstract

Alpine regions are affected by various natural hazards. Due to the high density of settlements in these areas, these natural hazards constitute a risk element for the local populations, therefore risk management is fundamental. The options for the management of these hazards consist in structural measures, land use planning and ecosystem-based solutions (EbS). Structural technical measures, such as avalanche snow bridges or rockfall nets, while immediately effective, have emerged as insufficiently adaptable to changes in environmental conditions. On the contrary, EbS have the potential to adjust to the challenges driven by global environmental change. This is the reason why, over the past few years, EbS have increasingly gained attention. In this review, we address the role of EbS in Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) in the European Alpine Space. The review is composed by two main parts: (i) a quantitative bibliometric analysis followed by (ii) a qualitative review.The first part focused on the quantitative analysis of peer-reviewed publications (Scopus database) to investigate general publication trends. This bibliometric analysis served as a basis to select articles for the subsequent qualitative analysis in which the parameters addressed were mainly: the type of natural hazard studied, the characteristics of the EbS, the development of alternative scenarios, the involvement of the stakeholders and the monetary evaluation of the measures.The results highlight a strongly increasing number of EbS-related publications from 1980 to 2019, particularly since the turn of the millennium. The qualitative analysis, however, revealed that the involvement of stakeholders and the economic evaluation of EbS is still lacking. We conclude that filling this research gap might help to foster a wider adoption of ecosystem-based solutions for disaster risk reduction across mountainous areas.