Advancing Culture of Living with Landslides

The International Consortium on Landslides proposed the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 for global promotion of understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk at the session “Underlying risk factors” of the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in the morning of 16 March 2015, in Sendai, Japan. The proposal was accepted and signed by 16 United Nations, international and national organizations in the afternoon of the same day in a Japanese restaurant “Junsei”, Sendai, Japan. This article describes the background and content of the Partnerships including example of major landslide disaster in the world with the full text of the partnerships and the list of signatory organizations.

Rupestrian settlements were among the first man-made works in the history of humanity. The most relevant masterpieces of such human history have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. These sites and their associated remains are not always in equilibrium with the environment. They are continuously impacted and weathered by a variety of internal and external factors, both natural and human-induced, with rapid and/or slow onset. These include major sudden natural hazards, such as earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, but also slow cumulative processes such as the erosion of rocks, compounded by the effects of climate change, as well as the role of humans, especially in conflict situations. Many rupestrian sites have been carved into soft rock, generally with UCS < 25 MPa (ISRM in Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abs 18:85–110, 1981), in vertical cliffs, and show major conservation issues in the domain of rock slope stability and rock weathering. This paper reports the experience of rock fall mitigation in rupestrian sites, mainly from the UNESCO World Heritage List (Bamiyan in Afghanistan; Lalibela in Ethiopia; Petra in Jordan, Vardzia in Georgia and others). The general approach, implemented in the activities, includes a very detailed interdisciplinary study, with the objective to understand degradation processes and causative factors, followed, as a subsequent step, by proper field conservation work. The latter is mainly related to re-discovering and potential application of traditional knowledge and sustainable practices, and is primarily based on local conservation techniques.

Subaerial landslide-generated waves (SALGWs) are among destructive hazards which have been not often studied in comparison with earthquake-generated tsunamis and submarine landslide-generated waves. This paper represents a brief review of the physical and numerical studies on SALGWs. Samples of the laboratory experiments are provided and it is highlighted that all the available data should be combined and studied collectively to overcome the discrepancies and improve our understandings of SALGWs. Commonly applied numerical approaches to simulate SALGWs are discussed. A Boussinesq-type model (LS3D) considering landslide as a rigid body, and a two-layer shallow-water type model (2LCMFlow) considering landslide as a layer of a Coulomb mixture are utilized to investigate the effects of landslide deformations on the characteristics of the landslide-generated waves (LGWs) based on a set of available experimental data. With a rigid landslide assumption, the maximum height of LGW is about 16% overstimated. Dense material deformes into a thick front—thin tail profile and induce a LGW consists of a larger wave crest than the wave trough while loose material shows a dam-break type behaviour with a LGW having a larger wave trough. A real case of SALGW is simulated by both models. The maximum LGW height predicted by the 2LCMFlow model which is closer to the physics is about 14% less than the equivalent value predicted by the LS3D model. On the other hand, the LS3D model, with the 4th order of accuracy of wave dispersion, simulates the LGW propagation stage more efficiently and with around 30% less runtime. Assessing the effects of the landslide initial submergence on the LGW characteristics shows that a semi-submerged, a submarine, and a subaerial landslides induce the largest wave crest, wave trough, and landslide runout distance, respectively. Combining different conceptual and mathematical models at the various stages of SALGWs initiation, propagation, transformations and runup can advance the current numerical practice, in this field, both from accuracy and computational efficiency point of views.

Rockfalls are very rapid and damaging slope instability processes that affect mountainous regions, coastal cliffs and slope cuts. This contribution focuses on fragmental rockfalls in which the moving particles, particularly the largest ones, propagate following independent paths with little interaction among them. The prediction of the occurrence and frequency of the rockfalls has benefited by the rapid development of the techniques for the detection and the remote acquisition of the rock mass surface features such as the 3D laser scanner and the digital photogrammetry. These techniques are also used to monitor the deformation experienced by the rock mass before failure. The quantitative analysis of the fragmental rockfalls is a useful approach to assess risk and for the design of both stabilization and protection measures. The analysis of rockfalls must consider not only the frequency and magnitude of the potential events but also the fragmentation of the detached rock mass. The latter is a crucial issue as it affects the number, size and the velocity of the individual rock blocks. Several case studies of the application of the remote acquisition techniques for determining the size and frequency of rockfall events and their fragmentation are presented. The extrapolation of the magnitude-frequency relationships is discussed as well as the role of the geological factors for constraining the size of the largest detachable mass from a cliff. Finally, the performance of a fractal fragmentation model for rockfalls is also discussed.

The International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) was founded in January 2002 during the UNESCO-Kyoto University Joint IGCP symposium “Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage”. It proposed and adopted the Letter of Intent in 2005 during the 2nd UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Kobe, Japan, adopted the Tokyo Action Plan in 2006, and the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 in 2015. This paper describes the history of ICL from preparation to present in a table of the chronology of events since 1987-present including the organization of ICL until 2020 when the Fifth World Landslide Forum will be held in Kyoto, Japan.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 was agreed at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan in March 2015 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in June 2015. The goal of the Sendai Framework is to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk. UNISDR coordinates and ensures synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations system and regional organizations and stakeholders The role of science and technology in providing the evidence and knowledge on risk features prominently in the Sendai Framework. Expanding the interface between science, technology and policy is therefore essential for effective disaster risk reduction. In January 2016, UNISDR hosted the Science and Technology Conference on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework. The main outcome of the conference was the launching of the Science and Technology Partnership and the endorsement of the science and technology roadmap that outlines expected outcomes, actions, and deliverables under each of the four priority actions of the Sendai Framework. Over the last twenty years, the majority of disasters have been caused by floods, storms, heatwaves and other weather-related events. Most of these disasters can cause landslides, which in turn cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries each year The International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) 2015–2025 and The Sendai Partnerships promotes global understanding and reduction of landslide disaster risk. They will contribute significantly to the implementation of the science and technology roadmap by providing practical solutions and tools, education and capacity building, and communication and public outreach to reduce landslides risks. UNISDR fully supports the work of the Sendai Partnerships and the community of practice on landslides risks

UNESCO operates at the interface between natural and social sciences, education, culture and communication, playing a vital role in constructing a global culture of resilient communities. UNESCO assists countries to build their capacities in managing disaster and climate risk and with their ability to cope with disasters. The Organization provides a forum for governments to work together and it provides essential scientific and practical advice in disaster risk reduction. UNESCO’s programmes in relation to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) cut across all of its areas of competence (education, natural and social sciences, culture and communication). Working alone or in collaboration with both UN Agencies and other scientific entities, UNESCO has been a catalyst for international, inter-disciplinary cooperation in many aspects of disaster risk reduction and mitigation. Since the establishment of ICL in 2002, UNESCO has continuously supported ICL’s activities as a part of its contributions to ISDR, namely the Hyogo and now Sendai Frameworks for action.

The United Nations University (UNU) was established in 1973 in Tokyo, Japan, as the academic arm of the United Nations. In its role as a think tank for the UN system it engages in policy-relevant research to generate science-based knowledge and solutions to urgent global challenges across a variety of comprehensive themes. UNU’s research focuses on three broad thematic clusters: Peace and Governance, Global Development and Inclusion as well as Environment, Climate and Energy. In addition, research is complemented by important themes in science, technology and innovation. Research is carried out by a global network of institutes and programmes (see Fig. 1), each with a specific thematic focus. This paper provides an overview of United Nations University, with particular attention to one of its institutes, namely the Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn, Germany.Fig. 1The Global UNU Campus

Recent international agreements such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement have all recognized the importance of developing and operationalising multi-hazard early warning systems that integrate the specificities of single-hazard early warning systems in a holistic, systematic and coordinated manner to promote synergies and maximize efficiency. While much progress has been made in recent years towards the advancement of knowledge and practice related to early warning systems worldwide, the lack of multi-disciplinary and transboundary cooperation among and across communities of scientists, decision-makers and practitioners continues to be a key challenge for the successful establishment and operation of these systems. To address this gap, major international and national organizations have collaborated to establish the International Network for Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (IN-MHEWS), with the aim of facilitating knowledge sharing and capacity development for multi-hazard early warning systems around the globe. This paper presents an overview of advances and challenges in promoting a multi-hazard and systematic approach to early warning, as well as the aim, objectives and expected contributions of this newly established Network.

In 2015 four UN landmark agreements were developed: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (hereafter referred to as the Sendai Framework); the agenda related to Financing for Development; the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. These can be regarded as the main guiding documents to galvanise action to address the new or emerging global challenges. The Science and Technology community are asked to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework, in order to ‘prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk’ by ‘enhancing the scientific and technical work on disaster risk reduction and its mobilization through the coordination of existing networks and scientific research institutions at all levels and all regions with the support of the UNISDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG)’ (UNISDR in Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, 2015a, Paragraph 25g). Within the Sendai Framework agenda, the commitment of STAG and the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Program (IRDR) is focusing the integration and collaboration between science, policy and practice. IRDR is a multi-disciplinary, all-hazards approach, supported by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), to strengthen capacity at global, regional and local levels to address hazards and generate science-based decisions on actions to reduce their impact (IRDR in Integrated research on disaster risk strategic plan 2013–2017, 2013). Along the line of critical actions identified by STAG and IRDR, particular efforts are being undertaken by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) to understand the configuration of landslide disaster risk and reduce its impacts. ICSU, via IRDR, as one of the voluntary signatories of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction–International Consortium on Landslides (ISDR-ICL) Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 for Global Promotion of understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk, is committed to enhance such endeavours. In this paper, attention is drawn to identifying some of the main future challenges for the integration of science into local, national, regional and international policy development for Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction within the Sendai Framework.

In the Sendai Framework, the importance of coordination mechanisms within and across sectors and with relevant stakeholders at all levels is stressed. Engineers are working for disaster risk management in the public sector, private sector, and community. Thus, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), which represents the engineering profession worldwide, should take an important role in achieving the goals of the Sendai Framework. This paper explains what WFEO and WFEO’s committee on disaster risk management (CDRM) are, and activities of CDRM in achieving goals of the Sendai Framework.

This paper gives an overview of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) activities that are related to the geologically related events—geohazards that pose risk to contemporary society. As geohazards are common events, IUGS has established an initiative with the aim to address the issue from a geological perspective and consequentially enable more holistic approach to the geohazds, including understanding processes, approaching them with the most effective solutions and educating public.

Science-driven approaches to disaster risk reduction and management can help communities and governments become more resilient and reduce the human and economic impacts of disasters. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) promotes international scientific research and cooperation in natural hazards and disaster risks, and contributes to development of sound scientific knowledge on hazards, based on monitoring of physical phenomena and integrated observations, analysis, and modeling. IUGG makes scientific information available to people, and bridges advanced science with policymaking via international and intergovernmental programs. This report describes the union’s major activities in the area of hazard and risk research and considers potential contribution of IUGG to the Sendai Partnerships. The contribution could include assessments of landslide hazards and risks; development of a scientific background to high-precision early warning systems for landslides; geophysical and geodetic monitoring of landslides; analysis and modeling of landslides and other rapid land movements; and relevant science education and capacity building.

The Disaster Management Bureau of the Cabinet Office of Japan has a mandate to coordinate policies and systems for all phases of disaster risk reduction in Japan. The bureau took a key role to host the the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), which was held in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, 14–18 March, 2015. Japan has suffered from various disasters, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, tsunamis and others and took active roles in international cooperation for disaster risk reduction at the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction in Yokohama, Japan in 1994, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan in 2005 and the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan in 2015. At the WCDRR in Sendai, Japan, the Government of Japan advocated the importance of “mainstreaming DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction)”. The Cabinet office encouraged and supported the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) to propose the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 as a voluntary commitment to the WCDRR.

This article describes an outline of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), which was established in Kyoto University in 1951, including its mission and objectives in terms of research, education and social contributions. Brief history of DPRI, as well as that of Research Centre on Landslides (RCL), is also given in relation with domestic and international activities such as the Natural Disaster Research Council (NDRC), designated COE programs, a Leading Graduate Schools Program (GSS), the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), UNESCO-KU-ICL UNITWIN Program, UNESCO International Hydrological Program (IHP), Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) projects, Japan-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Platform (JASTIP) and the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI).

This work provides an overview of the hydraulic and hydrogeological warning system, starting with a description of the tasks carried out by the Italian Civil Protection Department and in an Italian context. The Italian early warning system was put in place with the intent of following a specific approach, also confirmed by the Sendai Framework, that has shifted its focus towards Disaster Risk Management (DRM) as opposed to Disaster Management. The aim of the paper is to stress the challenge and the relevance of the approach to reducing landslide risk, which requires the involvement of many actors, including scientists and decision makers, as well as international, national, local, governmental, and non-governmental institutions, to find, develop and share new and best practices in the technical-scientific and regulation fields in order to make the necessary tools and instruments available to carry out the challenging tasks defined in the Sendai Framework toward real Disaster Risk Reduction.

The International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and ICL supporting organizations jointly established the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 which is the voluntary commitment to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. As the core activity of the Sendai Partnerships, ICL has created “Landslide Dynamics: ISDR-ICL Landslide Interactive Teaching Tools”, which are always updated and continuously improved, based on responses from users and lessons during their application. This paper describes the aim, outline, the contents of Text tools, PPT tools for lectures and PDF tools including already published reference papers/reports, guidelines, etc. Core parts of two fundamentals of the Teaching Tools, namely 1. Landslide types: description, illustration and photos, and 2. Landslide Dynamics for Risk Assessment are introduced.

The IPL World Reports on Landslides (WRL) database is created as a cooperation platform for sharing landslide case studies and the best practice in the global landslide community. ICL and IPL wishes to promote and publish global landslide information using the ICL/IPL network for the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnership 2015–2025 and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 through WRL activities were assigned as one of priority action. World Report on Landslides data base contains 40 submitted reports on landslide cases over the world. The best rating reports are accessible for world-wide landslide community as open access data, as well as all basic reports. In this paper results of ICL/IPL World Report on Landslides Commeetee members and related activities from 2010 to 2016 are presented.

The initial stage of IPL project which was managed by ICL started in 2002 at the same time of ICL foundation. The first IPL project was publication of International Journal of Landslides at this stage. The current second stage of IPL was defined by 2006 Tokyo Action Programme on Landslides as an international programme managed by IPL Global Promotion Committee consisting of ICL and ICL supporting organizations (UNESCO, UNISDR and others). IPL includes IPL Projects conducted by ICL member organizations, the triannual World Landslide Forum and the World Centres of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction (WCoE). This paper describes those activities and the list of WCoE since 2008 and the list of IPL projects both in the initial stage of IPL projects (2002–2008) and the second stage of IPL projects (2008–present).

UNITWIN is the abbreviation for the university twinning and networking scheme. This UNESCO programme was established in 1992. During ICL foundation meeting in January 2002, participants from UNESCO advised to link the planned International Programme on Landslides (IPL) to one of UNESCO Programme for the promotion and the authorization. Then, ICL applied for UNITWIN programme to UNESCO soon after the foundation of ICL in 2002. UNITWIN-UNESCO/KU/ICL Landslides Mitigation for Society and Environment Cooperation Programme was established in 2003 at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. In 2010, the UNESCO-KU-ICL UNITWIN Cooperation Programme was extended to “Landslide and Water-Related Disaster Risk Management” to include more participants dealing with rainfall-induced landslides on slopes, as well as flood, sediment and debris flows in river systems. This paper describes its progress and the activities of capacity development including the list of students and post-doctoral researchers within this programme.

The international journal Landslides: Journal of the International Consortium on Landslides was established in April 2004 as the core project of the International Programme on Landslides and a joint initiative of the International Consortium on Landslides and the United Nations and other global organizations. The aims of Landslides are to promote landslide science, technology, and capacity building, and to strengthen global cooperation for landslide risk reduction within the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR). The importance of landslide occurrences, as a one of the main global hazards increasing under global climate change in recent years, focused the scientists, engineers and stakeholders all over the world, especially in regions threatened by landslides, on landslide risk reduction research, with the aim of reducing their consequences. The landslide scientists recognized Landslides as the most important scientific journal in the fields of natural hazards, engineering geology, geotechnics and civil engineering related to any type of landslide research. Results of the most significant landslide research conducted last year were submitted and published in Landslides. The increasing number and quality of published manuscripts in the last years has resulted in a continuous rise of the Landslides journal impact, as expressed by the Thompson Reuters Impact Factor. The Thompson Reuters Impact Factor 2015 is 3.049; ranking No.1 in the category of Engineering, Geological journals. The aims of the Landslides Editorial Board are further improvements of manuscript quality, speed-up of the peer review process and faster publication of landslide science achievements.

The Earth Sciences Department of the University of Firenze (DST-UNIFI) since 2002 has been a member of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and three times it has been awarded status as a World Centre of Excellence (WCoE) for Landslide Risk Reduction (2008–2010, 2011–2013, 2014–2016). Since 2016, DST-UNIFI has established a UNESCO Chair on Prevention and sustainable management of geo-hydrological hazards. In this paper we describe the activities carried out by DST-UNIFI as a member of ICL and as WCoE in the framework of landslide risk reduction, landslide prevention and management.

The Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering of the University of Ljubljana (UL FGG), Slovenia, Europe, was voted in 2014 at the 3rd World Landslide Forum in Beijing, China to be one of the 15 new World Centres of Excellence (WCoE) in Landslide Disaster Reduction for the period 2014–2017. This successful nomination followed the period 2011–2014, in which UL FGG successfully fulfilled the role as one of the WCoEs for the second time. The title of the activities of the WCoE in this third term was slightly modified to be “Mechanisms of Landslides and Creep in Over-Consolidated Clays and Flysch”. We can divide the activities of the WCoE at UL FGG into international and national research activities. The international ones consisted of the ICL related activities with the main task of being the main organizer of this 4th World Landslide Forum 2017, international cooperation, European research activities, and bilateral cooperation. The national ones consisted of the national projects and the national research program “Water Science and Technology, and Geotechnics”. In the paper, these activities of the WCoE at UL FGG are elaborated in more detail, with a comprehensive list of publications to show the dissemination and capacity building efforts.

China Geological Survey (CGS) is one of the 15 new World Centres of Excellence (WCoE) in Landslide Disaster Reduction for the period 2014–2017. The title of the activities of the WCoE has been “Scientific research for mitigation, preparedness and risk assessment of landslides” since 2008, due to the complex conditions for the occurrence of geohazards in China. The Center of Geohazards Emergency of Ministry of Land Resources, which is directly under CGS, is responsible for the emergency response to major geohazards nationwide, including survey and investigation, monitoring and warning, risk assessment, prevention, training, and information systems. In this paper, the important activities of CGS are elaborated. The research project entitled “Research Project on the Early Recognition and Warning on Heavy Rainfall-Induced and Hydraulic-Driven Geological Hazards in China” was conducted from 2011 to 2015. From 2015 to 2017, a new project on mechanisms and hazards patterns of hydraulic-driven landslides has been conducted by the Center of Geohazards Emergency, China Geological Survey.

In this paper scientific activities of the Croatian Landslide Group (CLG), World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction (WCoE) of the International Consortium on Landslide (ICL) for the period 2014–2017, are shortly described. The results of scientific research are presented through the fields of landslide science: landslide identification and mapping, landslide investigation and testing, landslide monitoring, landslide modelling and landslide stabilization and remediation. It is concluded that the resulting landslide inventory maps, regional empirical rainfall intensity-duration thresholds, kinematic landslide models and soil strength parameters, landslide movement prediction models, numerical models and simulations and behavior of geotechnical construction for landslide stabilization provide necessary information for landslide risk management in Croatia. Besides applied scientific research, the general objectives of ICL WCoE are achieved in the framework of two Croatian IPL Projects and regional ICL Adriatic-Balkan Network.

Large-scale landslides with widths and lengths of 1 km or more have been reported in many parts of the world. Occurrences of large-scale landslides have recently tended to increase due to climate change and frequent seismic activity. To conduct research on proper measures for large-scale landslides, elucidation of the occurrence mechanism, for which there are as yet many unclear points, will be required in future. The Japan Landslide Society established a research committee that worked from 2011 to 2014 to elucidate the occurrence mechanisms of large-scale landslides. Analysis of examples of large-scale landslides collected from members of the research committee showed that a volume of moving body larger than 1 × 106 m3 and a maximum landslide thickness of more than 30 m are appropriate as the definition of a large-scale landslide. The shape of a large-scale landslide depends on the geology and age of the landslide site, and landslide activity and history affect the symmetry of the shape of a landslide. This paper presents some results of the WCOE (2014–2017) project titled “Emergency response support system for large-scale landslide disasters” by the Japan Landslide Society.

For nearly 100 years, the average temperature of the global surface has showed a consistent warming trend. Climate change and extreme weather events causing landslides are rising, especially landslides in cold regions, and the topic has become a hot issue in landslide research. With the support of ICL and the Chinese government, based on highway construction projects in Heilongjiang Province (China), Prof. Shan and his group (Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, North East Forestry University, China) conducted thematic studies focusing on environmental and engineering geology problems in cold regions in the context of climate change, such as IPL132, IPL167, and IPL203. These studies attracted the interest of international colleagues, then Chinese colleagues, together with researchers from Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy and Czech Republic, together organized the ICL-cold regions landslide network (ICL-CRLN). In ICL-CRLN researchers could exchange research information and results, and so promote the development of landslide research in cold regions. In 2014, IPL-GPC approved the establishment of IPL-WCoE: Research Center of Cold Regions Landslide, so landslide research in cold regions came into a new stage of development. This article is a summary and outlook of these activities.

Large-scale bedrock landslides are among the most hazardous natural phenomena posing a threat to communities living in mountainous regions and in the river valleys therein. Their study requires regular mapping of past features and compilation of uniform and representative inventories. This paper presents the main activities of the World Center of Excellence on Landslide Disaster Reduction of the Geodynamics Research Center—branch of JSC “Hydroproject Institute” (Moscow, Russia) and of the Kyrgyz Institute of Seismology (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). Their activities include compilation of a landslide inventory for the Kokomeren River Basin in Central Tien Shan, where the annual Kokomeren Summer School on Rockslides has been carried out since 2006, and of the uniform inventory of large-scale bedrock landslides (rockslides) for the entire Central Asia region, including the Djungaria, Tien Shan and Pamir mountain systems. Basic principles of rockslides identification and the structure of the database are described in brief.

Asia is a dynamic nexus of economic and social change, with population growth, industrialisation and urbanisation playing a large part in shaping the exposure of communities to hydro-meteorological as well as geologic hazards. Among them, landslides have become most widespread and commonly observed events throughout South and Southeast Asia. Recent incidents triggered by South Asian monsoons affected by El Niño resulted in devastating landslides in many countries in Asia. Realizing the essential need for landslide risk reduction, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) implements an umbrella program, namely the Asian Program for Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM) to undertake various measures for landslide risk mitigation such as pilot demonstration projects, capacity building programs for the stakeholder institutions through regional and national level training courses, networking events for experience sharing. This paper presents some of the needs and gaps in the region and initiatives undertaken by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) through its programs to address them. In acknowledgement of the initiatives being undertaken for landslide disaster risk reduction in Asia, the International Consortium of Landslides (ICL) has recognized ADPC to be one of the World Centers of Excellence (WCoE).

The implementation of early warning systems is in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015–2030. One of the four priorities of the Sendai Framework for Action emphasizes the improvement of preparedness in response to a disaster by carrying out a simple, low-cost early warning system and improving its dissemination. A new proposal of a standard for community-based landslide early warning systems has been promoted to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) by Universitas Gadjah Mada, in corporation with the Indonesian Standardization Agency and the Disaster Management Authority. The standard will serve to empower individuals and communities who are vulnerable to landslides to act in sufficient time in appropriate ways to reduce the possibility of injuries, loss of life and damage to property and the environment. It is designed to encourage communities to play a much more active role in their own protection. The guidelines adopted the concept of people-centered early warning system by UN-ISDR (Developing an early warning system: a checklist. Bonn, Germany, 2006) and will be used by communities vulnerable to landslides, and by government agencies and non-governmental organizations at central, provincial, municipality/district, sub-district, and village levels. The recommendations include: (1) Risk assessment; (2) Dissemination and communication; (3) Formation of disaster preparedness and response teams; (4) Development of evacuation maps; (5) Development of standard operating procedures; (6) Monitoring, early warning, and evacuation drills; (7) Commitment of the local authority and community to maintain the system. The standard will be developed by ISO/TC 292 Security and resilience, with the participation of 43 countries in the committee’s work and another 14 as observers. The basic concept of this global standard has been initiated since 2007 through the Asian Joint Research on Early Warning of Landslides proposed by International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) Kyoto University and funded by JST and implemented in Indonesia, China, Korea and Japan. This paper describes the achievements and the current activities of the World Centre of Excellence (WCoE) on Landslide Risk Reduction (2014–2017), IPL Project (IPL-158) “Development of community-based landslide early warning system”, and IPL Project (IPL-165) “Development of community-based landslide hazard mapping for landslide risk reduction at the village scale in Java, Indonesia”.

The Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) has been approved and designated as one of the “World Centres of Excellence on Landslide Disaster Reduction 2014–2017” under the theme of “Model Policy Frameworks, Standards, and Guidelines on Landslide Disaster Reduction” by the Global Promotion Committee of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) at the award ceremony of the World Landslide Forum 3 in Beijing, China. The above theme is divided into three thematic areas: first, Developing Conceptual Policy Frameworks to Understand the Causes, Effects and Mitigatory Measures of Landslide Occurrences, secondly to Implement Applicable Guidelines/Teaching Tools to Establish Essential Synergies in Landslide Disaster Phenomena, and thirdly to Originate Pertinent Standards for Humanitarian Activities in support of Effective Risk Reduction and Mitigations on Landslide Occurrences. The amalgamation of these three areas will originate a successive approach to developing a master plan for disaster risk reduction as a cost-effective investment in preventing future losses. The proposal for WCoE submitted by CECB was mainly focused on continuing IPL research activities, building up global partnerships and regional networks and conducting national projects and awareness programmes on Landslide Risk Reduction. This paper illustrates the above activities in a more comprehensive and descriptive manner.

The World Centre of Excellence (WCoE) on Landslide Risk Reduction entitled “Landslide risk assessment and development guidelines for effective risk reduction” (2014–2017) was designed to contribute to the risk reduction effort formulated in the Sendai Partnership initiative. Several research activities were developed and their results were presented to a broad public through a series of articles, informative web pages and documentary movies. The research focused on improving landslide hazard assessment in a variety of natural environments, including deep-seated as well as shallow landslides. Landslide hazard assessment was applied practically through development projects in Ethiopia and Peru. Within the scope of the WCoE we proposed and conducted two projects of the International Program on Landslides (IPL). One of them is dedicated to compilation and analysis of glacial lake outburst floods (Database of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs)–project No. 179) at the global level. This potentially highly damaging natural phenomenon combines characteristics of floods and debris flows and often also involves landslides in the initiation process. The other IPL project focuses on the main challenges of landslide risk reduction in the Czech Republic (Challenges for landslide hazard and risk management in “low risk” regions, Czech Republic, IPL project No. 197), which is a country with abundant landslide-related knowledge and rather low annual occurrence frequencies. Despite that, landslides cause considerable damage and financial losses, which often could be prevented if the available hazard information were to be used.

More than 90% of the territory of Ukraine has complex soil conditions. The number of landslides has increased by a factor of 1.3 in the last 15 years, and by a factor of about 3 over the last 30 years. Ukraine became a member of ICL only in 2009. The main task of Ukrainian division of ICL (UDICL) from 2009 to 2016 was and still is the implementation of the National Plan (the State Programme) on lanslide hazards mitigation. Because of a lack of governmental or any other support during the above years, UDICL has managed to carry out only two projects and is working on one more on a voluntary base. Objectives of the first IPL project were to determine the slopes with a landslide hazard in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine; to develop a database containing the engineering-geological information relevant to descriptors of landslide sites; and to develop targeted GIS on landslides in the Kharkiv region. All the goals of the project were achieved. In 2012–2014 IPL 153 project was implemented: information about landslide protection structures and measures was collected and structured, prospects of their development in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea of Ukraine (ARCU) were studied, and the target database was created. Since 2015 “Landslide hazard zonation using GIS”, the IPL 191 project, is being realized. The main goal of the project was to develop an instrument for landslide hazard forecasting to minimize the impact of landslide activation on people and tangible objects for the Carpathian region of Ukraine. Two Ukrainian standards of construction objects monitoring and building in the landslide sensitive areas will be completed and put into effect in 2017–2018. UDICL plans a training programme concerning these building standards for more than 1000 designers from all the regions of Ukraine.

In this study, we developed a hazard evaluation technique for earthquake-induced landslides that is based on topographical and geological factors extracted by an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Several past earthquake cases that have caused multiple landslides in Japan were analyzed. With this method, through buffer movement analysis, we were able to obtain factor data on the respective sizes of terrain impacted by landslides and the magnitude of the landslides in the target area. In addition, we incorporated a method to provide predictive values for the evaluation through blunder probability analysis. The area distribution of the coherent landslides following the Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake in 2004 corresponded well with the high-scoring areas derived by our evaluation model. This paper presents the results of the IPL project (IPL-154) titled “Development of a methodology for risk assessment of the earthquake-induced landslides”.

The Croatian-Japanese joint research Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) project ‘Risk Identification and Land-Use Planning for Disaster Mitigation of Landslides and Floods in Croatia’ was performed from 2009 to 2014. Key objectives of the project were landslides and floods hazard analysis and the development of guidelines for use in urban planning. This project is also designated as on-going IPL project 161. The aims of the working groups dealing with landslides were to establish a methodology of comprehensive real time monitoring at two most important landslides in Croatia based on the results of previous investigations and new in situ and laboratory testing and behavior analysis; laboratory soil testing and numerical modelling of static and dynamic landslide behavior; development of landslide inventories using direct sensing and remote sensing techniques followed by the development of methodologies of landslide hazard analysis and zonation in three pilot areas in Croatia. In this paper we will present the most important achievements of working groups related to landslide studies at the project pilot areas: two in Primorsko-Goranska County (the Rječina River Basin and the Dubračina River Basin) and one in the City of Zagreb (a hilly area of Medvednica Mt.). The identification and mapping of existing landslides in the hilly area of Medvednica Mt., Dubračina River Basin and Rječina River Basin so as establishment and results of the monitoring systems installed on the Grohovo Landslide and the Kostanjek Landslide will be described.

Like other South-East Asia countries, Vietnam is a country with mountainous terrain, complicated geological structure and high rainfall, and as a result, landslides occur regularly, with serious consequences for the mountain road networks in the rainy season. Due to economic difficulties and a lack of deep knowledge of the phenomena, activities to prevent and mitigate landslides are not effective. The SATREPS project of research cooperation between Japanese and Vietnamese researchers in the years 2011–2016 has not only helped Vietnam in the development of human resources, research equipment and development of a standard system of landslide investigation, monitoring, forecast and early warning, but has also contributed to disaster prevention and reduction in Vietnam in the future. This project is considered as a success for a new landslide-training tool, in cooperation with Asia members of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), especially South-East Asia countries, for the mitigation of natural disasters.

The IPL project No 181 titled “Study of slow moving landslide Umka near Belgrade” started in November 2012. The study area is located on the right bank of Sava River, 25 km south west of Belgrade, Serbia. The basic objective of the Project was to enable the analysis, correlation and synthesis of data obtained from various phases of investigation of Umka landslide after 35 years of research. Apart from this, the analysis of data from monitoring conducted during certain phases of research was compared with data from automated GNSS monitoring over the last six years, although during numerous investigations various research methods were used for research and monitoring. The project was focused on: analysis of previous detail site investigations and field instrumentation from 1990–2005, analysis of aerial photos and orthophoto images from 1957 to 2010, analysis of automated GNSS monitoring results from 2010 to end of the Project and analysis of precipitation and levels of the Sava River. Project beneficiaries are local community and local and regional authorities. In this paper we will present results of the proposed project targets performed by Project participants.

Rainfall and earthquakes are considered two of the major causes of landslides worldwide. These landslides cause billions of dollars in property damage and revenue losses, as well as the deaths of thousands of people each year. While researchers have been examining the effect of either rainfall or earthquakes on the deformation and stability of slopes, the combined effect of rainfall and earthquakes on deformation and slope stability has not been evaluated systematically. In this study, a series of model slopes were constructed in a Plexiglas container placed on top of a shake table. The model slopes were prepared to have different initial void ratios of 0.89, 1.0 and 1.2 and various slope inclinations of 30°, 40°, and 45°. These slopes were instrumented with accelerometers, tensiometers and inclinometers and subjected to a number of sinusoidal seismic motions with different seismic accelerations from 0.1 to 0.3 g, with several frequencies ranging from 1 to 3 Hz for various durations ranging from 10 cycles to 50 cycles of loading. Following the earthquake event, a rain simulator system was used to induce rainfall at intensities of either 18, 30 or 60 mm/h. The seepage velocity, spatial variation of suction and the deformation of the slopes were determined. The results obtained were compared to those obtained from similar slopes subjected to rainfall without an earthquake event. The study showed that the seismic shaking resulted in a reduction in the seepage velocity in the slope, which led to an increase in the factor of safety of the slope with time.

Although early records of landslides in Malaysia have existed since the beginning of the last century, national attention on landslides increased in earnest in the wake of the 1993 Highland Towers landslides. In 2003, an economically devastating rockslide in Bukit Lanjan led to the establishment of the Slope Engineering Branch (Cawangan Kejuruteraan Cerun—CKC). One of CKC’s first achievements upon formation was to carry out a National Slope Master Plan study to reduce risks and losses from landslides. One of the studies explores and devises methods for assessing risk that combine traditional and risk-based approaches. It introduces a risk assessment-based approach that looks beyond the fulfilment of Factors of Safety; it evaluates a slope based on its risk or probability of slope failure occurrence and assesses the consequence or damage caused by the failure. Most significantly, it compares the derived risk assessment results with the acceptable risk level of the public and residents. In essence, it becomes a decision-making tool for slope planners and developers to determine whether to proceed with the construction of a new slope or how much mitigation work should be put into an existing failing slope. One of the study components, Public Awareness and Education, launched a national awareness and education campaign to get create awareness of landslide risks and mobilize various stakeholders in the public, private, civil society and community levels into taking proactive measures for mitigation and prevention. It culminated in a programing conveying four main key messages, which are “Learn, Monitor, Maintain and Report”.

A mud eruption in East Java that occured on May 29, 2006 is well known worldwide. The mechanisms of the causes of the eruptions are still in debate, whether it was triggered by gas well drilling or by pressurised fluid reactivated by the Jogjakarta earthquake of May 26, 2006. This debate is not the main issue in this report. Instead, this paper discusses mainly the results of CPTu tests recently conducted and mitigation and risk reduction. The volume of the mud discharge is estimated at 5000 m3. Dykes were constructed to contain the mud, which covered areas reaching 650 ha (Sofyan 2015). The location of the disaster is in the middle of the town of Porong in the district of Sidoardjo, near Surabaya International airport, and mud has blocked the major arterial roads from north to south of East Java. The soil condition of the site is deep soft clays which causes instability of the dykes. Some dyke failures occurred, endangering residential areas due to the flow of the mud (Rahardjo 2015). This paper describes the characterics of the soil conditions from a number of drillings and CPTu tests conducted by the authors for designing the replacement of the arterial road and for dyke reinforcement, and also in the middle of the mud. The paper discuss the geotechnical problems of land subsidence over large areas and differential settlement that cause damage to infrastructure, including roads, gas pipes, railways, bridges and buildings, and is of particular importance to the safety of the dykes. The mud has been discharged through the Porong River, and sedimentation is part of the problem.

The IPL project No 210, titled “Massive landsliding in Serbia following Cyclone Tamara in May 2014”, started in March 2016. The study area is located in the Western and Central part of the Republic of Serbia territory affected by Cyclone Tamara in May 2014. The project aims to summarize and analyse all collected relevant data, including historic and current rainfall, landslide records, aftermath reports, and environmental features datasets from the May 2014 sequence. Objectives of the proposed project include: collecting all available and acquired landslide data, analysing the trigger/landslide relation in a feasible time span and in the May 2014 event, relating the landslide mechanisms and magnitudes versus the trigger, identifying spatial patterns and relationships between landslides and geological and environmental controls, proposing an overview susceptibility map of the event and numerical modelling of the site-specific location and landslide mechanisms. The Project will be organized by University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology and Faculty of Civil Engineering. Project beneficiaries are local community and local and regional authorities. In this paper we will present preliminary results of the proposed project targets performed by project participants.

This chapter provides a general account of the contributions of the ICL community to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. By addressing the particular thematic issue of “Landslides and Society”, the ICL group is committed to face the big challenge of developing linkages between landslide science and decision making and practice. The chapter introduces all articles contained within this special issue. Some of the contributions of this suite of papers have hinted at additional challenges that need to be further addressed through the establishment of linkages between landslide science and policy making and practice.

In Portugal, social impacts caused by landslides occurred in the period 1865–2015 are gathered in the DISASTER database. This database includes social consequences (fatalities, injuries, missing people, evacuated people and homeless people) caused by landslides documented in newspapers. The DISASTER database contains 291 damaging landslides that caused 238 fatalities. In this work we aim to: (i) analyse the spatio-temporal analysis of damaging landslides occurred in the last 150 years; (ii) analyse the frequency and the temporal evolution of fatal landslides; (iii) analyse the spatio-temporal distribution of landslide fatalities; (iv) identify the most deadly landside types; (v) verify gender tendencies in landslide mortality; and (vi) evaluate the individual and societal risk. Individual risk is evaluated computing mortality rates for landslides, which are calculated based on the annual average population and the annual average of fatalities. The societal risk is evaluated by plotting the annual frequency of landslide cases that generated fatalities. The results demonstrate the absence of any exponential growth in time of both landslide cases and landslide mortality in Portugal. The highest number of landslide cases and related mortalities occurred in the period of 1935–1969 in relation to very wet years. Most of landslide fatalities mainly occurred in the north of the Tagus valley where the geologic and geomorphologic conditions are more prone to landslides. The Lisbon area registered a mortality hotspot, which is explained by natural conditions combined with the high exposure of population to landslide risk. Falls and flows were responsible for the highest number of fatalities associated with landslides. Males were found to have the highest frequency of fatalities. In conclusion, the spatial patterns of landslide mortality can be related to the unequal distribution of predisposing conditions to landslides, changes in the land use and exposure and social vulnerability to landslide hazards.

The State-Funded Landslide Project (SFLP) is a national program to systematically assess landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk for all of prone areas in Vietnam. Under this SFLP, in the first phase of SFLP (2012–2014), activities of landslide inventory mapping were implemented over the fourteen Northern mountainous provinces. As the achievements, 10,149 historic landslides were mapped by field surveys and 9405 locations with landslide signs were interpreted from air-photos and analysis of 3D relief. Approximately 83% of the surveyed landslides locate in accessible areas, with small and medium dimensions and partly as a result of the slope cuts. About 76% of the interpreted landslides locate in inaccessible areas, and only 24% of the interpreted locate in accessible areas, of which 65% were found active landslides at the time of surveying, naturally occurred with large dimensions. However, the inventory exposes some major drawbacks: (1) The unavailability of multi-date air-photos; (2) The lack of human resources with enough experiences in image interpretation; (3) The difficulties of verifying the interpreted landslides, especially for the inaccessible sites; (4) Few or no sources of historic information due to the isolated sites or little memory of small or medium size events; (5) No updates developed by the surveyors after they finished their tasks. Those drawbacks can lead to the insufficiency of adequate data on the types, sizes and characteristics of the slope failures, especially the exact dates of occurrences. Despite of those difficulties, the achieved inventory database have been updated and then used as basic input for the susceptibility and hazard mapping as well as preliminary results of SFLP to inform the local authorities and communities about real situations of landslides in their areas.

The Petra Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, characterized by a spectacular geo-archaeological landscape, is also a fragile site facing a wide diversity of natural phenomena (landslides, flash floods, earthquakes) that pose a major threat to the heritage as well as to the visitors. The UNESCO Office in Amman, in partnership with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the Petra Archaeological Park has engaged in a long term strategy aimed at the prevention and mitigation of natural hazards at the site. Specific attention has been devoted to the case of the Petra Siq, a 1.2 km naturally formed gorge in the sandstone mountains serving as the only tourist entrance to the site, which is particularly at risk due to its narrow pathway, limited access points and recent active slope processes. Drawing on this approach, the UNESCO “Siq Stability” project has been developed to design a strategy towards prevention and mitigation of instability phenomena at the Siq of Petra. After an initial phase devoted to the reconstruction of geomorphological dynamics and monitoring of active slope processes, the current phase of the project focuses on the implementation of landslide risk mitigation measures, the capacity development of the national authorities and the development and implementation of an awareness strategy on natural hazards. Main focus has been placed on project activities undertaken, results achieved and suggestions for steps ahead, aiming to present a useful case study on the management of natural hazards applied to heritage sites leading to the conservation of a unique World Heritage property.

To understand the complex interactions between landslide risk, public and private risk awareness, including land use practices and repair and mitigation measures in a complete manner, case histories were developed and analyzed using the example of the highway network of the Lower Saxon Uplands, NW Germany. The case histories utilize datasets extracted from the German landslide database that includes information of historical and current landslide impacts, elements at risk as well as land use practices and provide an overview of spatio-temporal changes in the exposure and vulnerability to landslide hazards over the past 250 years. For the developed case histories the recorded landslide events were categorized and classified at representative sites, according to landslide types, processes, and damages as well as applied repair and mitigation measures. In a further step, data of recent landslides are compared with historical and modern mitigation measures and are correlated with concepts of risk management. As a result, it is possible to identify some complex interactions between landslide hazard, hazard awareness and damage impact. The case histories show that especially since the last 20 years public risk awareness rose due to an apparent increase in landslide frequency and magnitude at some sites. Before the 1990s landslide mitigation measures were mainly low cost prevention measures such as the removal of loose rock and vegetation, rock blasting, catch barriers, and temporal or perpetual traffic lane closure. Recently there is a shift towards the implementation of expensive mitigation measures in order to minimize landslide occurrence. Local decision makers increasingly invest in expensive long-term stabilization projects like soil anchoring, rock nailing, and steel-reinforced concrete walls.

The effectiveness of landslide risk management should be assessed to optimize the implementation of landslide risk mitigation measures. The Risk Management Index (RMI) of Cardona et al. (Disaster risk and risk management benchmarking: a methodology based on indicators at national level. IDB/IDEA Program on Indicators for Disaster Risk Management, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, p 101, 2004) provides useful procedures to holistically measure perceptions of risk management for natural hazards from selected actors. This paper uses Norway as a case study to present a modified RMI for surveying perceptions of landslide risk management at two time scenarios: 2015 (present) and 2050 (future), and for various administrative levels: national, county, and municipality. All survey respondents are practitioners in landslide risk management in Norway. The survey results are able to reflect some viewpoints of these experts on landslide risk management in Norway. Factors considered for assessing the future performance of landslide risk management by respondents are also studied to understand how respondents project their expectations. This paper also demonstrates how areas of improvement in landslide risk management in Norway can be identified based on the survey results. Due to limited responses, limited knowledge of respondents and the subjective nature of perceptions, the survey results are associated with uncertainties and should thus be used with care. Upon simplification of technical terms, the survey can be applied to survey public perceptions. The survey can also be regarded as a starting point for developing a common language/terminology for landslide risk management in Norway. This research activity has been funded by the Norwegian Centre of Innovation Klima 2050 (www.klima2050.no).

This paper provides insights into a new landslide hazards project which is part of a national research program on safe and sustainable transport in Germany funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). Here we report on a work in progress and present selected results of a pilot study conducted prior to the launch of the research program in 2016. The main goal of the landslide hazards project is to assess the future landslide hazard potential for the federal transport system under the influence of climate change. A federal road-related pilot study with focus on developing an approach to this type of hazard assessment was a first step in this direction. The developed approach is based upon a Geographic Information System (GIS) as mapping tool to combine a landslide susceptibility map with spatial datasets of regional climate change projections. Here we present the basic framework of this approach only, and provide information on landslide activity and climate change. This information refers to findings from three example landslide sites in Germany. The purpose of this paper is to introduce these landslide projects of German transport research against the backdrop of the existing national strategy of climate change adaptation.

Landslides are one of the most relevant geomorphological hazards in Portugal, by the high levels of people affected, destruction of assets and disruption of economic and social activities. Regarding the Portuguese territorial land use planning and emergency management, regulation, practice, prevention and risk management have been promoted in different ways. In Portugal, the areas susceptible to landslides are included in the ‘National Ecological Reserve’, which is a public utility restriction legal figure that rules the land use planning at the municipal level. In addition, the Municipal Emergency Plans include landslide susceptibility maps that are combined with the map of the exposed elements, allowing the assessment of exposure to landslides. This study is applied to the Loures municipality located to the north of Lisbon. In this municipality 621 landslides registered in a landslide inventory (rotational slides, deep-seated translational slides and shallow translational slides) that affected 1,469,577 m2 (0.87%) of the Loures territory. The final landslide susceptibility map shows that in Loures municipality 1347 ha are associated to a Very high landslide susceptibility and 2372 ha to High landslide susceptibility, which corresponds both to 22.1% of the entire municipality, and constitutes the larger fraction of the National Ecological Reserve, related to landslides. These areas do not present geomorphological and geotechnical suitability for building structures or infrastructures. From the civil protection and emergency management point of views 34 classes of exposed elements were identified in the municipality, with point, linear and polygonal representations. The elements at risk located in the Very High or High landslide susceptibility classes were summarized and correspond to: high voltage poles; wind turbines; transmission/reception antennas; industrial areas; water tanks; silo; gas station/tank; service area; buildings of educational institutions; worship buildings; buildings of electricity facilities; regular buildings; gas pipeline; motorways; national roads; and municipal roads.

Modern Society needs interactive public discussion to provide an effective way of focusing on hydrological hazards and their consequences. Embracing a holistic Earth system Science approach, we experiment since 2004 different stimulating educational/communicative model which emotionally involves the participants to raise awareness on the social dimension of the disaster hydrogeological risk reduction, pointing out that human behavior is the crucial factor in the degree of vulnerability and the likelihood of disasters taking place. The implementation of strategies for risk mitigation must include educational aspects, as well as economical and societal ones. Education is the bridge between knowledge and understanding and the key to raise risk perception. Children’s involvement might trigger a chain reaction that reinforce and spread the culture of risk. No matter how heavy was the rain that hit our land in the past and recent seasons, we still are not prepared. If on one hand we need to fight against worsening Global Warming that trigger extreme meteorological events, we should also work on sustainable land use and promote landscape preservation. Since science can work on improving knowledge of phenomena, technology can provide modern tool to reduce the impact of disasters, children and adults education is the flywheel to provide the change. We present here two cases selected among the wide range of educational activities that we have tested and to which more than 2,000 students and adults have participated within a period of 12 years. They include learn-by-playing, hands-on, emotional-learning activities, open questions seminars, learning paths, curiosity-driven approaches, special venues and science outreach.

Since ancient times, and more intensively from the mid-19th century, land in the mountain region is developing and the space belonging to land and water has been reduced. On the surface that previously belonged to the river have developed agriculture, transport routes and settlements. At the end of the 20th century, development spread over hazardous areas, many torrent flowed in highly confined channels, and ground water recharges drop down, instability of land surface and security for inhabitants decreased. This resulted in the changes reducing water resources of appropriate quality, reducing space for sediment deposit, increasing erosion, affecting natural habitats, causing major flood damage, decreasing groundwater stock, and deteriorating water quality. The water regime integrates all events across space from landslides, debris flow and is manifested in river regime in low lands. This problem is partially covered by many United Nations (UN) and UNESCO documents and reports. Proper actions are also suggested in the Ministerial Declaration from the 7th World Water Forum, where the first mentioned action is the significance of appropriate land management in relation to sustainable water management and planning. More room for landslides control means more space for potential landslide control out man made impacts that cause land slope instability, more space for torrents, more space for water and sediment storages, less impact on the slope stability and higher security for the peoples. We should change paradigm of space planning and development, especially in countries in development under intensive urbanization. The aim of this paper is to present particularly bad examples from Slovenia in order to support this proposal.