Landslides, Land-Use Systems and Food Security

Abstract

Landslides pose considerable risks to the environment. They threaten the lives of people and livestock and destroy land-use systems and agricultural production. This has heavy impacts on the livelihoods of affected people, their economic situation and food security. It is a stark fact that it is often the poorest and hungriest people who are the most seriously hit by these dramatic events. In developing countries, poor and marginalized people are often forced to settle and to cultivate land in hazard-prone areas due to population pressure and, accordingly, the effects of landslides on lives and assets can be disastrous.