Abstract. The number of deaths from landslides in Nepal has been increasing
dramatically due to a complex combination of earthquakes, climate change, and
an explosion of informal road construction that destabilizes slopes during
the rainy season. This trend will likely rise as development continues,
especially as China's Belt and Road Initiative seeks to construct three major
trunk roads through the Nepali Himalaya that adjacent communities will seek
to tie in to with poorly constructed roads. To determine the effect of these
informal roads on generating landslides, we compare the distance between
roads and landslides triggered by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake with those
triggered by monsoon rainfalls, as well as a set of randomly located
landslides to determine if the spatial correlation is strong enough to
further imply causation. If roads are indeed causing landslides, we should
see a clustering of rainfall-triggered landslides closer to the roads that
accumulate and focus the water that facilitates failure. We find that in
addition to a concentration of landslides in landscapes with more developed,
agriculturally viable soils, that the rainfall-triggered landslides are more
than twice as likely to occur within 100 m of a road than the landslides
generated by the earthquake. The oversteepened slopes, poor water drainage
and debris management provide the necessary conditions for failure during
heavy monsoonal rains. Based on these findings, geoscientists, planners and
policymakers must consider how road development affects the physical (and
ecological), socio-political and economic factors that increase risk in
exposed communities, alongside ecologically and financially sustainable
solutions such as green roads.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore whether “resilience” offers any positive inputs to international discourse in the field of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and if so, what recommendations can be made for further research on the topic.
Design/methodology/approach
– In addition to an in-depth literature review, observations on resilience were made based on interdisciplinary research conducted in Nepal 2008-2011 with landslide affected communities, to map local understandings of resilience in contrast to issues of risk and vulnerability.
Findings
– Resilience has the potential to offer a more systemic and cross-cutting approach to disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and the humanitarian sector. However, it needs to be assessed critically as one attribute of sustainable development, not as a lesser substitute.
Originality/value
– This paper provides new insights to the emerging contrast between proponents and critics of the resilience paradigm with recommendations for avoiding potential dangers that this paradigm brings.
Ecosystems play a potentially important role in sustainably reducing the risk of disaster events worldwide. Yet, to date, there are few comprehensive studies that summarize the state of knowledge of ecosystem services and functions for disaster risk reduction. This paper builds scientific evidence through a review of 529 English-language articles published between 2000 and 2019. It catalogues the extent of knowledge on, and confidence in, ecosystems in reducing disaster risk. The data demonstrate robust links and cost-effectiveness between certain ecosystems in reducing specific hazards, something that was revealed to be particularly true for the role of vegetation in the stabilization of steep slopes. However, the published research was limited in geographic distribution and scope, with a concentration on urban areas of the Global North, with insufficient relevant research on coastal, dryland and watershed areas, especially in the Global South. Many types of ecosystem can provide sustainable and multifunctional approaches to disaster risk reduction. Yet, if they are to play a greater role, more attention is needed to fill research gaps and develop performance standards.
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