Implementation of community‐based landslide hazard mitigation measures: the role of stakeholder engagement in ‘sustainable’ project scale‐up

Rainfall-triggered landslides present a major hazard to unplanned communities in tropical developing countries. We describe the MoSSaiC methodology (Management of Slope Stability in Communities) and show that landslide hazard can be reduced if tackled at the appropriate spatial and institutional scales. Stakeholder engagement – from communities to governments and funding agencies – has enabled the implementation of ‘on the ground’ construction to effectively reduce landslide hazard. Specifically, a cross‐agency management team liaised closely with the local social intervention fund, community project committees and individual residents to map the highly localized landside triggers and to design and build appropriate mitigation measures. Institutional, political and financial cycles can potentially act to destabilize such community‐based development initiatives. However, implementation of this approach in the Caribbean is shown to have reduced landslide hazard, whilst simultaneously gaining significant support from all stakeholders. The methodology outlined is an innovative and effective alternative to conventional ‘top‐down’ landslide risk reduction approaches. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.