Elizabeth Holcombe

The Efficacy of a Programme of Landslide Risk Reduction in Areas of Unplanned Housing in the Eastern Caribbean

Poor countries are disproportionately affected by the cost of disasters. Yet there is evidence of the benefits of seeking to mitigate the impact of a disaster, compared with the costs incurred in ‘making good’ after a major event has occurred. This article reviews a programme of landslide risk reduction in unplanned communities in the Eastern Caribbean. The construction of appropriate surface water management measures, based on the application of scientific and engineering principles, has been demonstrated to reduce the hazard from rainfall-triggered landslides. Adopting a community-based approach additionally delivers social and environmental benefits relating to employment generation, improvements in the environmental conditions within the community, and improvements slope management practices. The sustained implementation of the community-based projects has provided the necessary evidence-base for these practices to influence Government policy and practice, and gain recognition from regional development agencies. The strategic and incremental uptake of the community-based methodology is demonstrated to be an effective means for delivering physical landslide risk reduction measures in the most ‘at risk’ areas of unplanned housing.

What are the emerging challenges for community-based landslide risk reduction in developing countries?

AbstractDespite the acceptance of disaster risk reduction polices among governments and donor agencies, and their integration into development policies, disaster risk is accumulating. Urban landslide risk accumulation and the relative lack of before-the-event landslide hazard mitigation measures on the ground is of particular concern. This paper seeks to identify the emerging challenges for effective community-based, landslide risk reduction in developing countries. Failure to do so will result in continued landslide risk accumulation especially in vulnerable urban communities. Here, the basis for identifying such emerging challenges comes from on-the-ground delivery of community-based landslide risk reduction measures in multiple locations in the Eastern Caribbean, involving ∼US

Learning by Doing: Community Based Landslide Risk Reduction

6 million investment in construction of surface-water management measures. From that work, three landslide risk drivers are identified, and from these three groups of challenges emerge, relating to recognition of the evidence of ...

Landslide Risk Reduction—Complementary Routes to Learning

‘Knowledge into action’ and ‘community engagement’ are terms widely used in disaster risk management. We challenge the efficacy of such advocacy by reviewing knowledge gaps that restrict delivery of landslide mitigation on-the-ground in the most vulnerable communities in developing countries. We outline a holistic strategy which embraces both ‘action into knowledge’ and ‘knowledge into action’, and which engages all stakeholders throughout implementation cycle. This strategy formed the basis for the development of a community-based landslide risk reduction programme (MoSSaiC – Management of Slope Stability in Communities) in several Eastern Caribbean communities during the period 2005–2011. Outcomes included changes in policy (support for ex-ante DRR), new institutional practices (creation of a cross-ministry Government team), enhanced the local skill base (communities learned construction skills) and raised awareness (of landslide ‘science’ and hazard reduction). Such outcomes support the view that ‘learning by doing’ offers considerable benefits in the delivery of landslide mitigation measures.

Does Participation Lead to Ongoing Infrastructure Maintenance? Evidence from Caribbean Landslide Mitigation Projects

‘Knowledge into action’ and ‘community engagement’ are expressions widely used in disaster risk management. We review the efficacy of such advocacy for landslide risk reduction, by reviewing examples of land planning approaches and that of an holistic strategy which embraces both ‘action into knowledge’ and ‘knowledge into action’, and which engages all stakeholders throughout implementation cycle.

Community-based landslide risk reduction : managing disasters in small steps

Abstract Donor-funded infrastructure projects may focus on construction and neglect longer-term sustainability. Engaging local communities has been proposed as way of inducing ongoing maintenance by facilitating coordination and a sense of ownership, but there is little evidence on its effectiveness in practice. We analyse data from inspections of 103 landslide hazard mitigation drains in Saint Lucia several years after construction. We conclude that community participation at the beginning of the project, by accessing local knowledge, is associated with improved construction quality, but appears to have no impact on subsequent maintenance, suggesting that contractual provision for maintenance may be required.