Landslide Risk and Vulnerability; Real Issues, Thoughts and Perspectives

Landslides are among the most dangerous geological hazards of the world as they involve the movement of earth materials under the influence of gravity. Landslides can occur as a result of many different disturbances, but they are also strongly influenced by certain environmental factors such geology, precipitation, land cover changes and population. This Chapter sought to explore the use geostatistical and geospatial models to assess the contributions of the environmental factors to landslide risks and vulnerabilities in Ghana. Through the use of the weighted overlay method, it was found that even though precipitation was assigned the highest weight of 35%, areas which were identified as high landslide risk areas rather experienced the lowest levels of precipitation in the country. Thus, the high landslide risk was increased due to the geological setting which made the location much prone after any little amount of precipitation. The level of vulnerabilities is also on the high side due to increasing population and the resulting improper land use planning. Based on these, it was concluded that even though landslides could exert a significant multidimensional impact on a region’s life, livelihoods and geomorphology whiles their occurrence could not be predicted, the use of geostatistical and geospatial modelling technologies could help integrate available datasets to be able to ascertain the individual contribution of such factors to the level of risks and vulnerabilities.