Developing a framework for Landslide Susceptibility and Adaptability in South East Asia (SEAL)
Funded by NERC’s COP26 Adaption and Resilience
Project leads: Professor Ashraf Osman and Professor David Toll
Figure 1: Simpang Pulai landslide, Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia, September 2022
The key objectives of SEAL are:
The SEAL think-tank includes a network of scientists, engineers, stakeholders, and policymakers. We have science experts from 11 universities in seven countries: the UK, India, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
A key outreach activity of the SEAL project team was a two-day international workshop on the theme “Landslides Susceptibility and Adaptability in South-East Asia: Theory to Practice” that took place in March 2022. There were close to 350 participants from more than 25 countries that included students, early career researchers and practicing engineers. The SEAL project team also organised a two-day international short course on the theme “Application of unsaturated soil mechanics on the analysis of slopes” which took place in February 2022.
The SEAL project team is now reviewing landslide manuals in Southeast Asia, with the aim of producing a more comprehensive set of guidelines suitable to the needs of stakeholders.
SEAL project team:
Figure 2: SEAL workshop, March 2022
Durham University, UK
Indian Institute of Technology- Mandi (IIT – Mandi)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Gunma University, Japan
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Teikyo University, Japan
Ehime University, Japan
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Thuyloi University, Vietnam
National Water Research Institute of Malaysia
Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia
Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MPWH)
Malaysia Public Works Department (JKR)
The project brings together academic, practitioner, humanitarian, and government organisations to make a difference to the ways in which residents, government, and the international community take decisions to manage these hazards and their associated risks.
Nearly 1 billion people live in mountain landscapes worldwide. For many residents of these regions, living with the impacts of multiple hazards in mountainous regions, such as monsoon rainfall, earthquakes and landsliding, is a day-to-day reality. The impacts of these hazards are often exaggerated by systemic risks resulting from socio-political concerns, including fragmented government, rapid population change, and global geopolitical interests. As a result, these hazards have recurring and disproportionate impacts on some of the most vulnerable members of society.
In the Sajag-Nepal project, we examine how to use local knowledge and new interdisciplinary science to inform better decision making and reduce the impacts of multi-hazards in mountain countries. We focus on Nepal, which experiences a range of hazards resulting from earthquakes and monsoon rainfall. Nepal is also undergoing complex social, political, and economic changes as it moves to a federal system of government. Our project is grounded within long-term community-based work with rural residents in Nepal, and reflects their articulations of the need to make better decisions to reduce the risks that they face. It also builds on experience of assessing and planning for earthquake and landslide risk with the Government of Nepal, the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations, and householders themselves.
Further information can be found here.
GCRF Living Deltas Hub
March 2019 to February 2024
Project Lead: Dr Andy Large, Newcastle University
Durham University Leads: Prof. Julian Williams (Executive Director of the IHRR and Durham University Business School), Dr Ashar Aftab (Durham University Business School) and Dr Francisco-J. Hernández Adrián (Durham University School of Modern Languages and Cultures)
River deltas comprise just 1% of global landscapes yet support over half a billion people. Deltas are vital social-ecological systems and global food-baskets, but the terrain and the livelihoods of those who rely on them are under threat from human exploitation, environmental degradation and climate change. Focusing on three deltas in Asia, this Hub will operate on a model of equitable partnership with the delta-dwellers and the research community working together to develop new knowledge and policies.
The aim of the Hub is to safeguard delta futures through more resilient communities and sustainable development. The GCRF Living Deltas Hub will also:
The GCRF Living Deltas Hub includes 55 co-investigators and 60 early career researchers (PDRAS and PhD students). It will focus on three river deltas; the Mekong (working in Thailand, Cambodia, Loa PDR and Vietnam), Red River (Vietnam) and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (Bangladesh and India).
IHRR will co-lead WP6 Creating sustainable development capacity and delivering impact. This WP encompasses the Theory of Change and the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning strategy.
Smart Urban Resilience: Enabling Citizen Action in Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response
Natural hazards in Mexico are a significant source of human suffering and economic loss. Between 2000–2010, natural hazards caused 2,367 deaths, leaving over 15m people affected (Gobierno de la República 2014). With natural disasters generating estimated annual average losses of $2.9b USD (UNISDR 2015), identifying novel, integrated and shared forms of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emergency response is a national priority (General Civil Protection Law 2012; IFORM 2017).
Find out more about Smart Urban Resilience: Enabling Citizen Action in Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response
The Water Hub
The Water Hub is a new collaborative initiative between the IHRR at Durham University, Durham County Council, the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water.
The aim is to engage with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the North East of England to identify and develop innovative and practical solutions to challenges in the region’s water sector.
The project, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, will deliver support to SMEs through challenge events, partnership working, flexible small grants and access to test facilities.
Project features:
“The Water Hub is all about harnessing the talent and technology of the North East business community to solve real challenges that affect us all, in areas such as water efficiency, water cleaning and flooding.
“We are really excited to be launching this ambitious initiative and look forward to sharing lots of valuable opportunities with businesses we can work with in the near future.”
Professor Louise Bracken, Scientific Director of The Water Hub
Contact: thewater.hub@durham.ac.uk
Action on Natural Disasters (AND)
The focus for this cohort of the Action on Natural Disasters (AND) programme is earthquake-induced landslides in Nepal. Landslides are a perennial hazard in Nepal that pose a particular challenge to post-earthquake disaster response. The cohort comprises four PhD research projects, all of which seek to learn from the 2015 earthquakes and build upon ongoing and existing long-term research and collaborations in Nepal. The projects are designed to address pressing questions around landslide risk, use new and innovative approaches, and bring together supervisory teams from multiple disciplines, including the IHRR, Earth Sciences, Geography, Engineering, Psychology and Philosophy at Durham University.
All projects involve an element of fieldwork within Nepal and time on placements working with local partner organisations to maximise the quality and utility of the research. The projects also seek to benefit directly those at risk from future natural hazards, working at the community level wherever appropriate and developing outputs that will be applicable in Nepal and beyond. The projects bring together students from a range of backgrounds, who interact to build a body of research that aims to reduce landslide risk in Nepal and beyond.
Land Insecurity and Poverty in Africa
The primary challenge is reversing low agricultural productivity and poor economic performance driven by land insecurity in Africa. We want to break the stranglehold of poor land productivity, insecure land tenure, and underdeveloped value chains, which trap communities in a vicious cycle of persistent poverty.
The success of previous programmes has been hindered for various reasons, including single discipline-focused research and a tendency to proffer externally-based solutions without inclusive technology development or listening to community-defined needs. This vision has been developed over several years with the participation of academics, communities, the private sector, NGOs and policy-makers (the stakeholders).
We adopt a participatory dialogue to co-produce novel holistic solutions that combine stakeholder knowledge and strengths with land productivity restoration technologies. Five workshops have been held in both Africa and the UK to date to engage with these stakeholders and to formulate research questions that capture the needs of the communities in addressing this challenge.
Find out more about Land Insecurity and Poverty in Africa
Topsoil
Project Leads: Jes Pedersen and Flemming Jorgensen, representing the Central Denmark Region
TOPSOIL is an EU cooperation supported by the Interreg VB North Sea Region programme: Sustainable North Sea Region, protecting against climate change and preserving the environment. The project will be working on the improvement of water quality and quantity, while support environmental, financial and human benefits. Special interest will be paid to surface and groundwater connectivity and its implication for water resource protection and management.
The Wear Catchment Partnership works to integrate land and water management across the Wear river system. The Wear Rivers Trust, Durham University and Northumbrian Water, supported by the Environment Agency and the Heritage Coast Partnership, have hosted the Autumn Topsoil conference. Delegates came from Denmark, Holland, Germany, Belgium and the UK, representing 16 individual projects. They were welcomed by the Mayor of Durham City and Chair of Durham County Council, Councillor John Lethbridge who said,
“I was intrigued to listen to the multi-facetted approach to water management. Its international dimension poses a note of optimism in this uncertain world and I look forward to this valuable work being pursued.”
The Topsoil project aims to better understand relationships between the surface environment and groundwater within the context of a changing climate. Groundwater is a vital resource, providing water for public drinking supply, for agriculture and, where it comes to the surface, supporting habitats including wetlands, chalk streams and the wildlife which depend upon them.
A key theme running through Topsoil, and of key importance to all of the 5 countries represented, is how to protect groundwater from agricultural discharges. In many areas across the UK and Europe the soils, surface and subsurface deposits can allow the rapid transport of fertilisers and other chemicals from the surface into groundwater. A common challenge for many of the 16 Topsoil projects is how best to work with farming businesses to ensure a viable farming industry, producing good quality food, while at the same time protecting both surface and groundwater from fertiliser run-off.
A 3 trial year trial is underway in North East Durham, at Seaham Grange Farm, supported by Frontier Agriculture, looking at different methods of crop cultivation to see which method allows the most efficient uptake of fertiliser nutrients, leaving only a minimal amount of excess fertiliser in the soil after harvest. Remaining nutrients are at risk of being flushed out from the soil into surface or groundwater over the winter. Seaham Grange is a commercial arable enterprise, filling the role of a demonstration farm, where other farmers can observe the methods trialled, consider results, including harvest quality, yield and the levels of nutrients remaining in the soil.
"We’re finding that farmers are very receptive to improving environmental performance through better soil management and efficient use of fertilisers. The Seaham project and has great potential as a showcase to promote the integration of arable farming and water management to local farmers and beyond. Along with our own network of soil demonstration sites, the project will help us share best practice with farmers, focusing on efficient nutrient use and improving water quality whilst maintaining crop gross margins.”
Mike Slater, Fertiliser Technical Development Manager for Frontier Agriculture and presenting at the conference
Building on the groundwater theme, conference delegates visited the Dawdon mine water processing plant which pumps water from the mine, removing 30 tons of iron hydroxide “cake” per week and returning the cleaned water to the sea. This modern industrial plant was then contrasted with the Ryhope Engines Museum, with its 150-year-old fully working twin-beam engines, which pumped drinking water to Sunderland until 1967 when the Derwent and Kielder reservoirs came online. The Ryhope site continues to supply the city from its balancing reservoirs to this day.
Our visitors had the chance to visit Durham City, including the Cathedral, market square, townhall and local pubs, as well as the surrounding countryside.
“It has been a huge pleasure and very interesting to visit the Durham area. We are dealing with the same issues in our countries, but the issues are often tackled in different ways. This is why a project like the Interreg TopSoil project is so important. It enables a lot of knowledge exchange and we make use of each others' experiences to develop new methods and guidelines. The hosting town of Durham and it's magnificent Cathedral provided a perfect setting for the conference".
Find out more about Topsoil
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