Context
Landslides and floods pose a significant threat to Italy, impacting the population, environment, cultural heritage, communication infrastructures and economic activities. Over the past 50 years, these events have resulted in more than 1 600 fatalities and an estimated annual damage costing between €1 billion and €3 billion. The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale – ISPRA), in collaboration with the regions and autonomous provinces, has mapped over 621 000 landslides in the Italian Landslide Inventory. An estimated 1.3 million inhabitants, 548 000 families, 565 000 buildings, 84 000 industries and services, and 12 500 cultural assets are at risk from landslides in Italy. In response to these challenges, ISPRA developed ‘IdroGEO’ in 2019, an open access web platform that allows users to view, query, download and share maps and data on landslides and floods in Italy.
Objectives
The IdroGEO platform serves as a decision-making support system for policy-makers to plan risk mitigation strategies at national, regional and local scales. Moreover, IdroGEO provides information for managing civil protection emergencies, land use planning, designing civil infrastructures and conducting environmental impact assessments. Ultimately, it aims to reduce damage to people, public facilities, private buildings, economic activities and civil infrastructure by increasing citizens’ awareness of the risks affecting their territory. All these activities have social and economic implications, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Implementation
IdroGEO consists of two sections: the Italian Landslide Inventory (Inventario dei fenomeni franosi in Italia – IFFI), and the landslide and flood hazard maps and risk indicators. The platform was implemented in 2019–2020 with co-financing from the European Union, National Operational Programme on Governance and Institutional Capacity 2014–2020 under the project ‘Environmental Statistics for Cohesion Policies 2014–2020’. The total budget of €410 000 included a contribution of €189 000 for software development’ and maintenance and web servers, with ISPRA co-financing in kind (personnel costs) €221 000. The platform was co-designed and tested in collaboration with regional technical offices and the Italian National Council of Geologists (Consiglio Nazionale dei Geologi – CNG). Moreover, user feedback was gathered through a survey to assess the product and its services and tools. IdroGEO has been used, in the period 20 May 2020–30 October 2023, by 142 607 users with over 7.2 million views, and more than 40 000 downloads.