• Energy Research

Recent catastrophic floods in Viet Nam have been increasingly linked to land use and forest cover change in the uplands. Despite the doubts that many scientists have expressed on such nexus, this common view prompted both positive forest protection/reforestation programs and often-unwarranted blame on upland communities for their forest management practices. This study discusses the disparity between public perceptions and scientific evidences relating the causes of catastrophic floods. The former was drawn on the results of a questionnaire and focus groups discussions with key informants of different mountainous communities, whereas the latter was based on GIS and remote sensing analysis of land cover change, including a statistical analysis of hydro-meteorological data of the Huong river basin in Viet Nam. Results indicate that there is a gap between the common beliefs and the actual relationship between the forest cover change and catastrophic floods. Undeniably, the studied areas showed significant changes in land cover over the period 1989-2008, yet, 71% of the variance of catastrophic flood level in the downstream areas appeared related to variance in rainfall. Evidences from this study showed that the overall increasing trends of catastrophic flooding in the Huong river basin was mainly due to climate variability and to the development of main roads and dyke infrastructures in the lowlands. Forest management policies and programs, shaped on the common assumption that forest degradation in the upland is the main cause of catastrophic flood in the downstream areas, should be reassessed to avoid unnecessary strain on upland people.

Geo-hydrological risk reduction policies are becoming a critical challenge for environmental sustainability, both at the national and international levels. The reason is twofold: On the one hand, climate change has increase rainfall frequency and intensity, while on the other, reckless urban expansion has increased exposure to such hazards over time. Italy is a country that is very vulnerable to flood and landslide hazard; the city of Genoa, which, in recent decades, has been frequently hit by severe floods, has risen to symbolize Italian geo-hydrological risk. Recent studies on Genoa’s geo-hydrological hazard have focused on the analysis of hydro-geomorphological features of the Bisagno stream basin, yet their main focus was on hazard control. Very little research has been done to enhance the understanding of the source of risk in such catchments. This paper presents a study on the increased urban exposure and vulnerability to geo-hydrological hazard along the Bisagno stream catchment area over the last 200 years. Morphometric analyses were coupled with historical documents showing the evolution of the urban layout in this area. The results show that the “Bisagno Master Plan”, a territorial planning strategy aimed at reducing geo-hydrological hazard and risk, has not produced the expected benefits. In spite of the plan, critical changes in land use and the hydrographic network, along with uncontrolled anthropization of the Genoa metropolitan area, has continued over the last two decades.

AbstractThe 2005 UN Hyogo Declaration introduced the concept of resilience in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) unifying environmental sustainability and civil protection concepts. Crucial in this new approach is the development of a new quantitative adaptive strategy, which starting from the risk analysis of a territory, aims at strengthening a symbiotic and adaptive relationship between human communities and their surrounds. This paradigmatic shift needs new analytical and measuring tools in order to describe, evaluate and develop sustainable DRR strategies. Traditional cartographic tools, such as hazard, vulnerability, or risk maps, cannot appropriately represent the overall resilience of a territory (inclusive of its social and environmental dimensions). This article proposes a methodological approach to map such community resilience by assessing energy and resource consumption to maintain the stability of the social-ecological system. Starting from the identification of the complex relations between socioeconomic processes and disasters, this method computes a resilience score or index, integrating hazard and vulnerability factors with emergency management actions (e.g. community planning, mitigation and disaster response capabilities). Such index will enable, inter-alia, the drawing of maps of resilience, necessary to planners and policy makers to assess the effects and sustainability of different DRR strategies and policies.

Climate-related geohazards, such as landslides, floods, and coastal erosion due to climate change, are increasingly impacting human settlements and activities. This study, part of the European Project RESPONSe (Interreg Italy–Croatia), investigates the perception of climate change as a catalyst of future geohazards among the citizens of the Veneto region (northeastern Italy). A total of 1233 questionnaires were completed by adult citizens and analyzed by means of inferential statistics. The results highlight a widespread perception of climate change as a general threat for the environment, but not directly transposed to the frequency and intensity of future geohazards. Certainly, changes in temperatures and rainfall are widely expected and acknowledged, yet the comprehension related to the hydrogeological effects seems to vary proportionally to the physical proximity to these hazards. Such outcomes underline that there is still a common lack of understanding of the eventual local impact of the climate crisis. For these reasons, it is suggested that decision makers consider directing their efforts to enhance the citizens’ knowledge base in order to build a climate-resilient society.