The Caribbean region is becoming a safer place to live, thanks to an initiative set up by a member of the University of Bristol staff and his research assistant in the School of Geographical Sciences.

Away from the beach resorts, the inhabitants of the poorest housing on steep slopes in St Lucia live with the day-to-day threat posed by landslides, which are sometimes fatal and always destructive. But the communities themselves are now becoming equipped with the means to prevent these local catastrophes, thanks to Professor Malcolm Anderson and his PhD student, Liz Holcombe.

Professor Anderson was co-author in 1997 of an Overseas Development Administration design manual for tropical slopes, and developed software (called CHASM) to help estimate the effects on slope stability of factors such as storms, slope characteristics and ground water levels. But he knew that technical assistance only went part of the way towards a lasting solution.

“There was a huge opportunity to better connect with people,” he explains. “There are plenty of people in government with many of the skills necessary to tackle landslide risk reduction issues. And these regions can’t always afford to buy in consultants.”

So why St Lucia? “I knew the political structure here, and knew that it had the greatest chance of success – and of all the places I’ve worked in around the world, in terms of need it was pretty high up there.”

Areas of poor housing in the Caribbean such as those in St Lucia are beset by an increasing number of small-scale local emergencies caused by population pressures. These recurrent events, such as landslides, tend to get overlooked in favour of dealing with the aftermath of big disasters. And what little action is taken can often be inappropriate: “Elsewhere, I’d seen large amounts of money spent and people being moved from areas of risk by political regimes, without any effective investigation,” he says. “We had to find solutions that were appropriate, sustainable and delivered to people on the ground.”

And the ground is exactly where the work needs to be done – on it, in it and beneath it. Slope stability is a central issue for these communities, and one that crosses disciplines: it affects houses, infrastructure, water supply and planning. Accordingly, Malcolm and Liz devised the MoSSaiC (Management of Slope Stability in Communities) programme and gathered representatives from eight government ministries and agencies on St Lucia to form the first MoSSaiC management committee. Its priorities were to identify government staff and community members who could develop and deliver a landslide risk reduction programme, and to set up field teams to work on those projects. The involvement of the government was crucial: “For work to be followed up,” explains Liz, “it had to become embedded in policy.”

The experience of working on the MoSSaiC project has also become embedded in their own lives during its fast-moving first year. “I really enjoy linking the science of what we do with government capabilities,” says Liz, “and seeing that come together in the communities. Working with people day to day has been incredibly rewarding.”

Professor Anderson agrees. “Of all the work I’ve done,” he says, “this has had the greatest impact on me. It’s created opportunities to share our knowledge with people who are vulnerable. And we’re learning too – the most vulnerable of communities work with us and tell us their priorities; that has helped us to realign our priorities.”

After just some 12 months, the results speak for themselves. At the community level, there is already capacity-build with the co-sharing of appropriate slope drainage measures. At the technical level, new low-cost slope drains have been constructed, and housing areas and main roads have been divided into landslide risk. At the government level, MoSSaiC has been formally approved by Cabinet, and training manuals and courses are up and running.

“The MoSSaiC programme is all about vertical integration from government to community, combined with horizontal integration as ministries co-operate with each other,” says Professor Anderson. “And that’s what were seeing in St Lucia now. This means that the framework is in place for the Caribbean region to put things into practice in the near future.”

It is clear that every step in the MoSSaiC strategy is aimed at a sustainable solution – hence the absence of contracts. “Normally, when a contract ends, the partnership ends and there may be no lasting benefit,” says Liz. “Our work is based on relationships and trust, and focussed on the longer term.”

“As an academic, you can create a long-term partnership, in which your university is a component,” says Professor Anderson. “These are new ways of thinking about how universities can connect with partners around the world. In doing so, we can help transform the lives of individuals, who in turn can set new research agendas for universities.”

For further information please contact Paul Harrod on +44 (0) 117 928 8676