New Delhi, Oct 13: India will host the World Landslide Forum for the first time from November 23 to 27 in Faridabad, with more than 1,900 authors from over 75 countries and regions contributing to the global event focused on landslide science, early-warning systems and disaster-risk reduction.
Held under the theme “Landslide Science and Practice for Safe and Resilient Communities”, the five-day forum will bring together scientists, engineers, disaster-management experts and policymakers to discuss landslide monitoring, hazard mapping, risk assessment, mitigation and early-warning technologies.
The forum is being organised under the aegis of the International Consortium on Landslides, in collaboration with organisations including the Geological Survey of India, National Disaster Management Authority, Department of Science and Technology, National Institute of Disaster Management and Indian Space Research Organisation.
A series of pre-conference workshops on November 22 will focus on emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence for landslide assessment, satellite-based monitoring, InSAR, digital twins, landslide prediction and geospatial modelling.
The event comes amid the continuing challenge of landslides in vulnerable regions, where extreme rainfall, unstable slopes and expanding infrastructure can heighten risks to communities, roads, railways and other critical assets.
For India, the forum is expected to provide a platform to share domestic experience in landslide monitoring and early warning while facilitating international collaboration on disaster preparedness and resilience.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham said its landslide research programme, initiated in 2006, integrates deep-earth sensing, Internet of Things networks, artificial intelligence and machine learning with field deployments and community-based risk communication.
The university has deployed wireless sensor networks for landslide detection and early warning in Munnar, Kerala, and subsequently developed an AI-integrated IoT system. A similar system was later deployed in Sikkim at the request of the Government of India.
According to the university, its monitoring and early-warning work involves more than 300 sensors, while researchers have visited over 70 landslide sites across India.
“Every advancement in landslide science must ultimately help protect a life, a home or a livelihood,” said Dr Maneesha V Ramesh, Pro Vice Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Director of the Amrita Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications.
She said hosting the forum in India would help connect researchers, governments, industry, non-governmental organisations and communities to exchange knowledge and strengthen collaboration on landslide risk reduction.
The World Landslide Forum has previously been held in Tokyo, Rome, Beijing, Ljubljana, Kyoto and Florence. India will become the fifth country to host the international gathering, according to the organisers.
Amrita's landslide research programme has been recognised as a World Center of Excellence on Landslide Disaster Reduction under the International Programme on Landslides for three consecutive periods: 2017-2020, 2020-2023 and 2023-2026.
