Physically based model may be used to assess landslide susceptibility over large areas. However, majority of case studies are applied for complex phenomena for a one event, a little site or over large areas when landslides have simple geometry and environmental conditions are homogeneous. Thus, assessing landslide prone areas for different type of landslides with several geometries and for large areas needs some specific strategies. This work presents an application of a specific procedure based on a physically based model for one complex area with several landslide types. By different steps, it is demonstrated that it is possible to improve susceptibility map and to take into account different slope failure with different depths. This first attempt encourages us to continue on this path in order to improve the existing susceptibility maps in this area.

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To cite this version:Thomas Houet, Marine Gremont, Laure Vacquié, Yann Forget, Apolline Marriotti, et al.. Downscaling scenarios of future land use and land cover changes using a participatory approach: an application to mountain risk assessment in the Pyrenees (France) . Regional Environnemental Change, Springer, 2017, 17 (8) Better understanding the pathways through which future socio-economic changes might influence land 19 use and land cover changes (LULCC) is a crucial step in accurately assessing the resilience of 20 societies to mountain hazards. Participatory foresight involving local stakeholders may help building 21 fine-scale LULCC scenarios that are consistent with the likely evolution of mountain communities. 22This paper develops a methodology that combines participatory approaches in downscaling socio-23 economic scenarios with LULCC modelling to assess future changes in mountain hazards, applied to a 24 case study located in the French Pyrenees. Four spatially-explicit local scenarios are built each 25 including a narrative, two future land cover maps up to 2040 and 2100, and a set of quantified 26 LULCC. Scenarios are then used to identify areas likely to encounter land cover changes 27 (deforestation, reforestation and encroachment) prone to affect gravitational hazards. In order to 28 demonstrate their interest for decision-making, future land cover maps are used as input to a landslide 29 hazard assessment model. Results highlight that reforestation will continue to be a major trend in all 30 scenarios and confirm that the approach improves the accuracy of landslide hazard computations. This 31 validates the interest of developing fine-scale LULCC models that account for the local knowledge of 32 stakeholders. 33

Abstract. Several studies have shown that global changes have important impacts in mountainous areas, since they affect natural hazards induced by hydrometeorological events such as landslides. The present study evaluates, through an innovative method, the influence of both vegetation cover and climate change on landslide hazards in a Pyrenean valley from the present to 2100. We first focused on assessing future land use and land cover changes through the construction of four prospective socioeconomic scenarios and their projection to 2040 and 2100. Secondly, climate change parameters were used to extract the water saturation of the uppermost layers, according to two greenhouse gas emission scenarios. The impacts of land cover and climate change based on these scenarios were then used to modulate the hydromechanical model to compute the factor of safety (FoS) and the hazard levels over the considered area. The results demonstrate the influence of land cover on slope stability through the presence and type of forest. The resulting changes are statistically significant but small and dependent on future land cover linked to the socioeconomic scenarios. In particular, a reduction in human activity results in an increase in slope stability; in contrast, an increase in anthropic activity leads to an opposite evolution in the region, with some reduction in slope stability. Climate change may also have a significant impact in some areas because of the increase in the soil water content; the results indicate a reduction in the FoS in a large part of the study area, depending on the landslide type considered. Therefore, even if future forest growth leads to slope stabilization, the evolution of the groundwater conditions will lead to destabilization. The increasing rate of areas prone to landslides is higher for the shallow landslide type than for the deep landslide type. Interestingly, the evolution of extreme events is related to the frequency of the highest water filling ratio. The results indicate that the occurrences of landslide hazards in the near future (2021–2050 period, scenario RCP8.5) and far future (2071–2100 period, scenario RCP8.5) are expected to increase by factors of 1.5 and 4, respectively.

Abandonment of agricultural land is widespread in many developed countries. These surfaces are projected to increase significantly worldwide during the 21 th century. Identifying potential relationships between land abandonment and soil erosion dynamics over the long term (100 years) is therefore essential for predicting the environmental consequences of this extensive land use change. Accordingly, sediment cores were collected in two highland catchments of central France in order to reconstruct the change of sediment delivery during the last century. The results showed a substantial decline (71-78%) of rural population in both sites since 1900. This decrease occurred simultaneously with a sharp decline (85-95%) of the surface of arable land: previously cultivated areas were mainly converted into forests as the result of natural and anthropogenic processes. Consequently, sediment deliveries significantly decreased (75-99%) in both catchments. These trends were nevertheless interrupted by the implementation of afforestation works between 1945 and 1970 in one of the catchments. During these works, erosion rates increased threefold because of extensive soil disturbance, and sediment delivery stabilized only 15 years after the onset of these management operations. Overall, this study demonstrates the long-term effect of land abandonment on soil erosion, which supplements the more widely reported acceleration trend of soil erosion because of agricultural intensification.