Human Settlements and Disaster Risk Reduction

Mountain regions are important water towers, sustaining human settlements home to 14% of the world’s population (Ehrlich et al., 2021). Such regions face a unique set of challenges that affect the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services (De Jong, 2015; Clerici et al., 2019; Zogaris et al., 2021). They are often exposed to natural hazards such as floods, landslides induced by extreme rainfall, debris flows, ice and snow avalanches, earthquakes and droughts.

Chapter 4 focuses on the challenges and responses to WASH service provision and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in mountain regions. It highlights the impacts of rapid and unplanned urbanization, natural hazards and climate change on water availability, quality and security in such areas.