Giulia Bossi, Gianluca Marcato, 2018, New strategies for the structural mitigation of landslides considering cost-sustainability, 6° Congresso Nazionale AIGA 2018, pp. 73–73, Courmayeur, 27-29/06/2018,
URL: http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/389048

The budget dedicated to the structural mitigation of natural hazards such as floods and landslides is being reduced in many developed countries. This phenomenon follows a fairly defined trend with large investments in the two decades post-WWII and a nearly constant decline to the present day. This is due both to a reduced availability of funding by the central authorities and to the cumulative effects of risk reduction following the implementation of structural measures that mitigated the most pressing, serious or urgent problems. The growth of anthropic pressure in mountain environments, added to the modification of the attitude towards risk by the exposed population, is now overlapped by a situation in which funding for new large works is scarce and in which, at the same time, the countermeasures built in the post-war period reach a critical age that requires extraordinary maintenance. A new strategy is therefore required to offset the costs for structural mitigation through the association of works that provide long-term economic returns. This would allow local authorities to self-finance risk mitigation without taking resources away from other activities that are also necessary. For example, there is the case of a landslide covering an area of about 100,000 m2 located in the Alta Valle del Tagliamento (Udine, Italy) crossed by the SS Carnica state road that connects Cadore and Carnia. The landslide, consisting of two former distinct instability phenomena that are now interdependent, is crossed by a stream fed by permanent sources. The data collected in more than 5 years of monitoring show how the flow in the torrent is directly related to the landslide displacements. The opportunity to channel and use the water subtracted from the system to produce energy through a micro-hydroelectric plant can contribute to economically support the mitigation without burdening the budget of the local authority.

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