1st Edition

Slope Safety Preparedness for Impact of Climate Change

Edited By Ken Ho, Suzanne Lacasse, Luciano Picarelli Copyright 2017
    590 Pages
    by CRC Press

    590 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Many countries are increasingly threatened by major landslide disasters and fatalities due to extreme weather events which have major implications for public safety and the sustainability of infrastructure and the built environment. A further increase in such a trend could come from climate change.





    This book helps to fill in the gap due to the fact that landslide hazards are commonly not covered under the policy debate on climate change. The book highlights the importance of raising awareness to the challenges of landslide hazards due to climate impact. It provides a holistic frame for understanding the key issues and new tools that could be used to assess and manage the landslide risks.





    The book gathers contributions from 21 countries and regions in the form of national reports or summaries with respect to four key aspects: a) the methods used for evaluating changing weather and changing landslide patterns; b) the changing weather patterns; c) the changing landslide patterns and hazard scenarios; d) the applications to risk management and the formulation of adaptation measures.





    Recommendations are made for enhanced preparedness and resilience. Improved crisis management and areas for future work are suggested.

    1. Preparedness for Climate Change Impact on Slope Safety.



    Country / Regional Reports
    2. Technical report on landslide related disasters in Brazil
    3. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Landslides Occurrence in Canada
    4. Enhancing slope safety preparedness for extreme rainfall and potential climate change impacts in Hong Kong
    5. Potential climate changes in Italy and consequences on land stability
    6. Global warming and landslide disaster: evidences from Japan
    7. Landslide risk management in Norway
    8. Overview of landslides distribution in Russian Federation and variations of their activity due to climate change
    9. Slope Safety Preparedness in Southeast Asia for Effects of Climate Change
    10. Review of landslide occurrence in Spain and its relation to climate.
    11. TR3 Project: Slope Safety Preparedness for Effects of Climate Change Contribution for Switzerland
    12. Review of Landslide occurrence and climate change in Taiwan
    13. Landslides and climate change in the United Kingdom
    14. Landslide hazards and climate change: a perspective from the United States.

    Biography

    Mr. Ken Ho obtained his BSc in civil engineering and his MSc in soil mechanics and engineering seismology, both from Imperial College London. He is currently the Deputy Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Hong Kong Government and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is also a core member of Joint Technical Committee JTC1 on Landslides under the auspices of the Federation of International Geo-engineering Societies (FedIGS) on Natural Slopes and Landslides, and has previously served as a core member of ISSMGE Technical Committee TC304 on Engineering Practice in Risk Assessment and Management. Ken has published over 100 papers on slope engineering, quantified risk assessment, earthquake, piling and deep excavations. He has presented a number of keynote papers and state-of-the-art papers at various international conferences. He is also the editor of several international conference proceedings and serves on the editorial boards of a number of geotechnical journals.



    Dr. Suzanne Lacasse was educated in Civil Engineering at Ecole Polytechnique of Montréal and MIT. She was Managing Director of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) from 1991 to 2011, and now acts as Technical Director at NGI. She gave the 37th Terzaghi Lecture on Offshore Geotechnics in 2001 and the 55th Rankine Lecture on Hazard, Risk and Reliability in Geotechnical Practice in 2015. Dr Lacasse received PhD's Honoris Causa from the University of Dundee and from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineers in the USA, Canada, Norway and France. She is Honorary Professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and Chair of the Slope Safety Technical Review Board in Hong Kong. She has given keynote lectures in over 30 countries, and is the author of over 300 scientific papers.



    Professor Luciano Picarelli was educated in Civil Engineering at Un

    "It gives me great pleasure to write this note in support of this excellent volume on the topic of the impact of climate change on landslides. […] I can assure you that this book will be on my shelf as soon as it comes out."

    Jean-Louis Briaud, President of FedIGS, Federation of International Geo-engineering Societies, and Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University

     

    "The editors of this volume compile current views from around the world about the impact of climate change on landslide frequency and strength. Organized into 14 chapters, the work specifically provides 13 reports that represent 17 worldwide regions. These reports identify the impact of climate change on rainfall and related weather patterns, slope instability and landslide risk, and engineered slope design. They examine the variations in landslide risk management and adaptation actions while noting that more research is necessary. Although the actual content in each chapter deviates somewhat from this general framework, each one is fairly thorough in its regional analysis. With an in-depth summary in chapter 1, the editors provide coherence and context to the reports by comparing and contrasting their content. The editors identify key findings and discuss the science of climate modeling and landslide prediction, the projected range of landslide frequency and magnitude, landslide risk management, and the need for more research. A substantial number of quality figures and tables support the text, and each chapter is well referenced. A thorough index is also included.

    Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals."

    J. B. Huffman, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in: Choice Connect, September 2017 issue