Advancing culture of living with landslides - Volume 4: Diversity of landslide forms

Every year, disasters induced by natural hazards affect millions of people across the world. The loss of life is tragic, impacting on communities for the long term. The costs are also economic, as disasters are responsible for estimated annual economic losses of around USD 300 billion. With the rising pressures of climate change, overpopulation, and urbanization, we can expect costs to increase ever more. We cannot prevent disasters but we can prepare for them better. This is the importance of the International Consortium on Landslides, supported actively by UNESCO, to advance research and build capacities for mitigating the risks of landslides. Led by Prof. Kyoji Sassa, the Consortium has become a success story of international scientific cooperation at a time when this has never been so vital. This is especially important as the world implements the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030—adopted in Sendai, Japan, to assess global progress on disaster risk reduction and set the priority actions. The International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction—International Consortium on Landslides Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025 is the key outcome relating to landslides from the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Sendai. On this basis, every member of the International Consortium of Landslides is redoubling efforts to understand, foresee, and reduce landslide disaster risk across the world. Led by the Consortium, the Landslide Forum is a triennial milestone event that brings together scientists, engineers, practitioners, and policy makers from across the world—all working in the area of landslide technology, landslide disaster investigation, and landslide remediation. Meeting in Slovenia, the 4th Landslide Forum will explore the theme, “Landslide Research and Risk Reduction for Advancing Culture of Living with Natural Hazards”, focusing on the multidisciplinary implementation of the Sendai Framework to build a global culture of resilient communities. Against this backdrop, this report includes state-of-the-art research on landslides, inte- grating knowledge on multiple aspects of such hazards and highlighting good practices and recommendations on reducing risks. Today, more than ever, we need sharper research and stronger scientific cooperation. In this spirit, I thank all of the contributors to this publication and I pledge UNESCO’s continuing support to deepening partnerships for innovation and resilience in societies across the world.