Local perception and adaptation strategies to landslide occurrence in the Kivu catchment of Rwanda

Abstract. This study aims to assess local perception and adaptation strategies to landslide occurrences in the Kivu catchment of Rwanda. Qualitative, quantitative, and combined methods were applied for data collection to investigate how the locals perceived the types of landslides, origins, impacts, contributing variables to landslides, and adaptation strategies to landslides. The investigation conducted interviews with 384 residents from the six districts of the study area, key informant interviews and field observations. The findings showed that falls, flows, slides and spreads are the types of landslides frequently occurring in the study area. Heavy rain, steep slope, road construction, inappropriate agriculture practices, deforestation, earthquake, and mining were found to cause landslides with effects such as human fatalities, infrastructure damage, injuries, and property losses. Different measures are adopted for landslide risk reduction, including agroforestry, terracing, stormwater drainage systems, and relocating people from high-risk areas. Residents have a positive opinion of their community’s approach to managing landslides effectively. However, the findings revealed gaps in cooperation between the parties where Non-Governmental Organizations do not appear to be active participants during intervention activities for landslide management in the study area. Regression analysis has shown that deforestation, inappropriate agricultural practices, roads construction, earthquakes, and climate change are the key factors significantly contributing to landslide occurrences in the study area. Further research must be conducted on the subject using a variety of methodologies, notably those related to applied artificial intelligence in order to enrich the literature presently available on landslides in the Kivu catchment of Rwanda.