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Irene Vega
The risks associated with landslides are increasing personal losses and property damage in more and more areas of the world. These natural disasters are related to extreme geological and meteorological phenomena such as earthquakes or hurricanes. However, to correctly understand their interrelationships and social effects, it is necessary to study the different ecosystem services that are related to them, such as water supply, climate control or human practices.
A scientific team, led by the URJC and with the collaboration of the Autonomous University of Guerrero (Mexico), has carried out a pioneering study using a methodology that integrates the different ecosystem services for the evaluation of landslide risk. “First we identified the main ecosystem services that could be related to landslide risk and we evaluated these services in the state of Guerrero in Mexico,” explains Patricia Arrogante Funes, a URJC researcher. “Then we apply a principal component analysis using the spatial representation of each of them,” she adds.
For the calculation, analysis and evaluation of ecosystem services, scientists have used the artificial intelligence platform and big data ARIES and they have studied the similarity between the risk characteristics (susceptibility and vulnerability) already mapped by the authors of this work and the maps of ecosystem services. “We spatially evaluated eight services by mapping synergies and trade-offs between them through principal component analysis to better understand their influence on risk analysis. The application of the similarity test was important to see how to integrate these maps into the risk analysis”, details the URJC researcher.
The results of this work, published in the scientific journal Applied sciences, show that the ecosystem services that most affect the synergy between them are the amount of organic carbon and the potential value of outdoor recreation. Furthermore, it has been observed that the soil mass removed is the most important compensation and that the lowest similarity value is found between vulnerability to landslides and the synergy of ecosystem services. “These data show us the importance of including these services as a source of valuable information in risk analysis methodologies, especially with regard to vulnerability to risk”, emphasizes Patricia Arrogante Funes.
A new dimension for natural hazard assessment
The method developed in this study aims to better understand the relationship between ecosystem services and the components of vulnerability and susceptibility to landslides with the aim of including them in future risk analysis. This new approach integrates the main drivers of change in land use and allows the evaluation of synergies and compensations between the different ecosystem services, that is, "it takes into account both direct damage and human and material losses, as well as the indirect losses due to the degradation of the services offered by the ecosystem and which, in many cases, are related to the livelihoods of the people affected by natural risks”, points out the researcher.
This research is part of the development cooperation project of the Rey Juan Carlos University, under the title "Science, technology, cooperation and citizenship for sustainable development: Assessment of vulnerability to landslides based on artificial intelligence", within the III Call for Financing of Development Cooperation Projects of the URJC.