An integrated assessment of landslides at Mount Elgon, Uganda: Hazards, onsequences and risk reduction.

The explorative research in this project includes 3 components related to: landslide hazard the sensitivity of specific areas to the occurrence of landslides, landslide consequences the economic impact of landslides; and landslide risk reduction reducing both hazard and consequences. Landslide risk = landslide hazard landslide consequence Landslide hazards: The establishment of a GIS-database for the whole Mt. Elgon region will be initiated through bringing together scattered spatial information, updating a land-use map using satellite image interpretation, and gathering spatially disaggregated socio-economic data. These data will be explored in a pilot landslide hazard modelling and mapping exercise. We will identify data gaps and methodologies to upscale landslide hazard analysis for the whole region and to integrate socio-economic factors in the analysis. Landslide consequences: Different stakeholders, including households affected by recent landslides, will be identified and interviewed. This information will be used in explorative assessments of how existing landslide hazard knowledge is disseminated up to the grassroots level, how farmers livelihoods are affected by recent landslides, and how farmers cope with this. We will explore the possibilities and needs for landslide risk and damage mapping and for further research on the resilience of farmers to cope with shocks caused by landslides. Opportunities to reduce landslide risk: Deforestation of deep-rooting trees is one of the main factors in causing landslides in the East African highlands. Climate change mitigation efforts like REDD and CDM might present opportunities to reduce landslide risk and provide alternative, less land-related, income sources. We will explore these through stakeholder interviews, a review of existing information and the establishment of a baseline for the carbon sequestration potential in Mt. Elgon.

Keywords:Landslides, Sustainable land management, Land use change modelling, Landslide hazard mapping, Risk behaviour, Climate change mitigation

Disciplines:Economic development, innovation, technological change and growth, Agricultural animal production, Agricultural plant production, Agriculture, land and farm management, Other agriculture, forestry, fisheries and allied sciences, Physical geography and environmental geoscience, Applied economics