Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7xsfk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T13:33:07.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

21 - Geomorphic hazards and sustainable development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2011

By
David Higgitt
Edited by
Irasema Alcántara-Ayala  and
Andrew S. Goudie
Irasema Alcántara-Ayala
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City
Andrew S. Goudie
Affiliation:
St Cross College, Oxford
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Intuitively, there should be a close link between the topics of environmental hazards and sustainability. Both issues feature prominently in the contemporary language of policy makers, journalists and academics. Planning for an environmentally sustainable future clearly requires identification, assessment and management of risks and vulnerability. The vulnerability of humans to a range of environmental hazards affects the sustainability of societies. Vulnerability has both economic and social dimensions dictating that a complete study of geophysical risks requires the work of scientists and social scientists to be integrated (Beer, 2004). The aim of this chapter is to consider some aspects of the interdisciplinary debate on the interactions between hazard, risk and sustainability, from which the potential for geomorphology to perform at this intersection can be gauged. Some examples from Asian seismic and flooding hazards are included to illustrate these points.

It could be argued that the sustainability agenda is a relatively recent arrival in the domain of hazards research. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) catapulted the concept of sustainable development into the limelight with its definition as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. While the hallmarks of sustainability thinking are implicit in much of the earlier hazards research, a shift towards a sustainability agenda demands adjustment to the paradigms of hazards research.

Type
Chapter
Information
Geomorphological Hazards and Disaster Prevention , pp. 257 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adger, W. N. (2006). Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16 268–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,American Geological Institute (1984). Glossary of Geology. Falls Church, VA: AGI.Google Scholar
Andres, L. and Strappazzon, G. (2007). Natural hazard management and sustainable development: a questionable link. Revue de Géographie Alpine, 95, 2, 29–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, V. R. (1977). Stream-channel response to floods, with examples from central Texas. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 88, 1057–1071.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bankoff, G. (2002). Cultures of Disaster: Society and Natural Hazards in the Philippines. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bankoff, G. (2004). The historical geography of disaster: ‘vulnerability’ and ‘local knowledge’ in western discourse. In Bankoff, G., Frerks, G., Hilhorst, D. and Hilhorst, T. (eds.), Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People. London: Earthscan, pp. 25–36.Google Scholar
Beer, T. (2004). Geophysical risk, vulnerability and sustainability. In Sparks, R. S. J. and Hawkesworth, C. J. (eds.), State of the Planet: Frontiers and Challenges in Geophysics. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, pp. 375–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkes, F. (2007). Understanding uncertainty and reducing vulnerability: lessons from resilience thinking. Natural Hazards, 41, 283–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, M. I., Cowie, S., Ong, J. E.et al. (2007). Indian Ocean tsunamis: environmental and socio-economic impacts in Langkawi, Malaysia. Geographical Journal, 173, 103–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I. and Wisner, B. (1994). At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brierley, G. J. (2009). Communicating geomorphology. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33, 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, I. and Kates, R. W. (1964). The perception of natural hazards in resource management. Natural Resources Journal, 3, 412–441.Google Scholar
Burton, I. R., Kates, R. W. and White, G. F. (1993). The Environment as Hazard, 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campagna, M. (ed.) (2006). GIS for Sustainable Development. London: Taylor and Francis.
Carpenter, S., Walker, B., Anderies, J. M. and Abel, N. (2001). From metaphor to measurement: resilience of what to what?Ecosystems, 4, 765–781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cashman, K. V. and Cronin, S. J. (2008). Welcoming a monster to the world: myths, oral tradition and modern societal response to volcanic disasters. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 176, 407–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chorley, R. J. (1978). Bases for theory in geomorphology. In Embleton, C., Brunsden, D. and Jones, D. K. C. (eds.), Geomorphology: Present Problems and Future Prospects, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
Cutter, S. L. (1996). Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Progress in Human Geography, 20, 529–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter, S. L., Boruff, B. J. and Shirley, W. L. (2003). Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Sociological Quarterly, 84, 242–261.Google Scholar
Douben, N. and Ratnayake, R. M. W. (2006). Characteristic data on river floods and flooding: facts and figures. In Alpen, J., Beek, E. and Taal, M. (eds.), Floods, from Defence to Management. London: Taylor & Francis, pp. 19–35.Google Scholar
Douglas, I. (2004). People induced geophysical risks and sustainability. In Sparks, R. S. J. and Hawkesworth, C. J. (eds.), State of the Planet: Frontiers and Challenges in Geophysics. Washington D.C.: American Geophysical Union, pp. 387–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, T. W., Chu, J., Frankenberg, E. and Thomas, D. (2007). Assessment and prediction of natural hazards from satellite imagery. Progress in Physical Geography, 31, 459–470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halvorson, S. J. and Hamilton, J. P. (2007). Vulnerability and the erosion of seismic culture in mountainous Central Asia. Mountain Research and Development, 27, 322–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haque, C. F. and Burton, I. (2005). Adaptation strategies for hazards and vulnerability mitigation: an international perspective. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 10, 335–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgitt, D. L. (2008). Catchment management: from engineering to ‘imagineering’. Innovation: The Magazine of Science and Technology, 8, 38–40.Google Scholar
Hillman, M. and Brierley, G. J. (2008). Restoring uncertainty: translating science into management practice. In Brierley, G. J and Fryirs, K. A. (eds.), River Futures: An Integrative Scientific Approach to River Repair. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, pp. 255–272.Google Scholar
Hoa, L. T. V, Shigeko, H., Nhan, N. H. and Cong, T. T. (2008). Infrastructure effects on floods in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Hydrological Processes, 22, 1359–1372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horton, B. P., Bird, M. I., Birkland, T.et al. (2008). Environmental and socioeconomic dynamics of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Penang, Malaysia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 29, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,IUGG GeoRisk (2002). The Budapest Manifesto on Risk Science and Sustainability. IUGG Commission on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability. Available at http://www.iugg-georisk.org/ (accessed November 2008).
Jackson, J. (2008). The May 2008 Sichuan earthquake: a herald of things to come. Geology Today, 24, 178–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, M. A. and Ostrom, E. (2006). Resilience, vulnerability and adaptation: a cross-cutting theme of the International Human Dimensions Programme of Global Environmental Change. Global Environmental Change, 16, 237–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kates, R. W. (2001). Queries on the human use of the Earth. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 26, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R. J. T., Nicholls, R. J. and Thomalla, F. (2003). Resilience to natural hazards: how useful is this concept?Environmental Hazards, 5, 35–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreps, G. A. (2001). Sociology of disaster. In Smelser, N. J. and Bates, P. B. (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Kummu, M. and Sarkkula, J. (2008). Impact of the Mekong River flow alteration on the Tonle Sap flood pulse. Ambio, 37, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kummu, M., Lu, X. X., Rasphone, A., Sarkkula, J. and Koponen, J. (2008). Riverbank changes along the Mekong River: remote sensing detection in the Vientiane-Nong Khai area. Quaternary International, 116, 100–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamond, J. E. and Proverbs, D. G. (2008). Flood insurance in the UK: a survey of the experience of floodplain residents. In Proverbs, D. G., Brebbia, C. A. and Penning-Rowsell, E. (eds.), Flood Recovery, Innovation and Response. Southampton: WIT Press, pp. 325–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, D. J., Burley, R. J., Eriksen, N. J.et al. (1996). Environmental Management and Governance: Intergovernmental Approaches to Hazards and Sustainability. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,Mekong River Commission (2007). Annual Flood Report 2006. Available at http://www.mrcmekong.org/flood_report/2006/ (accessed January 2008).
Mileti, D. S. (1999). Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.Google Scholar
Munich, Re (2006). Natural Catastrophes 2006: Analyses, Assessments, Positions, Topics Geo. http://www.munichre.com/publications/302-05217 en.pdf.
,National Research Council (2006). Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Pelling, M. (2006). Measuring urban vulnerability to natural disaster risk: benchmarks for sustainability. Open House International, 31, 125–132.Google Scholar
Schneider, R. O. (2002). Hazard mitigation and sustainable community development. Disaster Prevention and Management, 11, 141–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaymaker, O. and Spencer, T. (1998). Physical Geography and Global Environmental Change. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman.Google Scholar
Smith, K. (1992). Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thang, H. C. and Chappell, N. J. (2005). Minimising the hydrological impact of forest harvesting in Malaysia's rain forests. In Bonell, M. and Bruijnzeel, L. A. (eds.), Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 852–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treby, E. J., Clark, M. J. and Priest, S. J. (2006). Confronting flood risk: implications for insurance and risk transfer. Journal of Environmental Management, 81, 351–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner, B. L., Kasperson, R. E., Matson, P. E.et al. (2003). A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 100, 8074–8079.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valentine, G. A. (2003). Towards integrated natural hazard reduction in urban areas. In Heiken, G., Fakundiny, R. and Sutter, J. (eds.), Earth Science in the City: A Reader. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, pp. 63–73.Google Scholar
,WCED (1987). Our Common Future. New York: World Commission on Environment and Development.Google Scholar
White, G. F. (1945). Human Adjustments to Floods. Research Paper No. 29, University of Chicago, Department of Geography.Google Scholar
White, G. F. and Haas, E. (1975). Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
White, G. F., Platt, R. H. and O'Riordan, T. (1997). Classics in human geography revisited: commentary on ‘Human adjustment to floods’. Progress in Human Geography, 21, 423–429.Google Scholar
Wisner, B., Blaikie, P., Cannon, T. and Davis, I. (2004). At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters, 2nd edition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wolman, M. G. and Gerson, R. (1978). Relative scales of time and effectiveness of climate in watershed geomorphology. Earth Surface Processes, 3, 189–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolman, M. G. and Miller, W. P. (1960). Magnitude and frequency of forces in geomorphic processes. Journal of Geology, 68, 54–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×