Libor Jansky

Watershed and Forest Management for Landslide Risk Reduction

Landslide hazard can be influenced by natural resource management and rural development related activities, such as forest management, road construction, agricultural practices and river management. Vegetation cover and its utilizations may play a role in mitigating the risk of landsliding. Moreover and above all, it does play a role in mitigating the processes leading to increased landslide hazard, such as gully erosion. Thus, forest management and development are of particular concern. But all people living in mountain areas rely on the soil stability for their livelihoods, and their livelihoods may influence this soil stability. Therefore all related activities have to be done on an appropriate way in order to promote soil and slope stability.

Natural Hazard Prevention and the Mountain Land Risk Reduction in the Western Carpathians

The Western Carpathians are located out of world main natural hazardous zones. Human casualties are related more to snow avalanches in connection with mountain hiking, some individuals yearly by flooding and rarely by forest fires. Economic lost about 0.1 to 0.2 %, exceptionally up to 0.8 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) proportionally to the Carpathian regions of particular countries. Natural disasters are linked, except of the above mentioned events, to infrequent small and medium scale earthquakes, landslides, and erosion. Records of the most harmful natural events are found in archives since the 16th century. Their systematic study and factor analysis started from the end of the 19th century, and protective measures and organization of impact mitigation developed during the 20th century to minimize the risk.

A UNU Climate Change Initiative: Sustainable Land Management in Central Asia

Mountain Research and Development Vol 25 No 4 Nov 2005 The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, identified 3 key environmental issues facing the global community in the 21st century: climate change, biodiversity, and desertification. The follow-up World Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002 reviewed progress in addressing these closely interrelated issues and highlighted the need for promoting synergies as a strategy for the design and implementation of more efficient and effective solutions to interlinked problems.