Welcome message to the Second World Landslide Forum

Abstract

Landslides pose considerable risks to the environment and the livelihoods of communities throughout the world. There are many signs that the frequency, dimension and impacts of environmental hazards in both the developing and the developed world are on the rise—and landslides are no exception. Climate change plays a particularly important role in this trend. It is a stark fact that it is often the poorest and hungriest people who are the most seriously hit by these dramatic events. Landslides are often triggered by natural events such as heavy rainfall, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. In many cases, however, landslide hazards are strongly influenced by human interventions such as rural development-related activities, agricultural practices, forest management, road construction, river management and urban development. Vegetation cover, forest in particular, and its sound management play a significant role in mitigating the risk of landsliding. In this context, mountain and upland areas merit particular attention. People living in mountain areas rely on an intact environment and soil stability for their livelihoods. In turn, mountain livelihood systems, as well as external pressure on natural resources, may influence the health and stability of the environment. Watershed management is a very sound approach to reducing landslide risks and should be a fundamental part of any initiative related to landslide risk mitigation. Watershed management addresses upstream–downstream linkages, which are very important in the context of landslide processes, and provides a framework for appropriate natural resources management and sound land use planning. Existing scientific knowledge related to modern watershed management and the results of already implemented integrated projects are encouraging. There is evidence that combined and equal attention to research, natural resources management, socio-economic incentives and institutional development leads to a significant reduction of landslide risks and other hazards through a better understanding of the natural and man-made processes involved, better management of natural resources, an improved economic situation of rural, and particularly mountain, populations, favourable governance structures and advanced institutional mechanisms. FAO, the UN specialised agency for food and agriculture, is very concerned about the growing incidence of hazards such as landslides, since they seriously affect the lives, livelihoods and food security of populations. Accordingly, disaster risk management is receiving increasing attention in the FAO’s programmes, particularly in watershed management, forestry, agriculture and overall land-use planning. FAO addresses disaster risk management through an inter-departmental mechanism in order to ensure that the diversity of expertise available within the Organization is fully utilised and captured. In the shaping of future activities of landslide-related initiatives, in particular the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), FAO considers the following elements particularly worthy of attention: