Farmers’ landslide risk perceptions and willingness for restoration and conservation of world heritage site of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, China

Abstract

The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces (China) is an ancient world heritage agricultural landscape that has been evolved in centuries as a result of farmers' indigenous practices and knowledge. The area, however, is prone to landslides that can burden the conservation of these landscapes including their social, cultural, economic and aesthetic value. In June 2018, a landslide threatened the villages of Duosha and Mengpin affecting 138 inhabitants and the terraces structure. This event marked the need to understand how farmers coexist with these natural hazards and which are the behaviours people adopt to conserve their environment and safeguard their livelihood. Results from 125 in-person interviews showed that farmers feel threaten by landslide events derived by their personal experience, but their poor perceived preparedness and the inefficient disaster information make them more vulnerable to those events. Nevertheless, they demonstrated a desire to increase their knowledge on terraces restoration and conservation practices. This is an important signal for public authorities and practitioners that need to underpin training activities and create momentum for discussion. The demonstrated high trust in authorities' decisions is a crucial element to pursue the objective and sustain the conservation of the terraces and the tourism economy.

Risk perception of local stakeholders on natural hazards: implications for theory and practice

“…The main geomorphological characteristics which can influence different hazardous processes and the distance to the potential risk areas constitute essential factors of how different people perceive different risks (Bickerstaff and Walker, 2001;Heitz et al, 2009;Gao et al, 2020). Some natural hazards affect large areas (droughts, earthquakes, or snowstorms), while others (e.g.…”

“…Salvati et al, 2014;Pereira et al, 2016;Fuchs et al, 2017) related to sensitive geographical settings and communities (e.g. Roder et al, 2016Roder et al, , 2017Roder et al, , 2019Gao et al, 2020;Alcántara-Ayala and Moreno, 2016;Gao et al, 2020) or involving a combination of multiple interacting factors (e.g. Mondino et al, 2020).…”

Reply on RC2

“…The main geomorphological characteristics which can influence different hazardous processes and the distance to the potential risk areas constitute important factors of how different people perceive different risks (Bickerstaff and Walker, 2001;Heitz et al, 2009;Gao et al, 2020). Some natural hazards affect large areas (droughts, earthquakes, or snowstorms), while others (e.g., landslides, floods) are spatially concentrated in direct relation to topography characteristics at the local scale.…”

Integrated Low-Cost Approach for Measuring the State of Conservation of Agricultural Terraces in Tuscany, Italy

“…Terraces have allowed for the cultivation of a wider variety of crops, thereby increasing not only the productive areas, but also the quality of landscapes [2,3,5]. As a result, terraces are now a ubiquitous feature in many mountainous regions all over the world [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10] and have been recognized as a distinct element of a region's cultural identity and heritage because they form important landscape elements and characterize a territory due to their particular design [3,5,11,12]. Even within the same country and if the intent was to cultivate the same crop, it is often possible to find terraces that are designed in very different manners, e.g., different height, using different types and sizes of stones, and with different arrangements for water regulation [1,3,[13][14][15].…”

“…In the past, terracing systems not only increased the amount of arable land, but also contributed to help stabilize the slopes by preventing erosion due to surface flow. Furthermore, they help to control the drainage of rainwater, maintain soil moisture, and increase overall water retention [2,11]. The state of conservation of a dry-stone wall depends on its ability to maintain its hydrological functionality over time and preserve the morphology of the terraced slope by protecting the almost vertical earth walls [18].…”