ABSTRACT
As one of project of UNESCO-IUGS joint Programme “International Geological Correlation Programme”, IGCP-425 “Landslide Hazard Assessment and Mitigation for Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites and Other Locations of High Societal Value” was proposed and adopted in 1998, and the project is ongoing with 31 subprojects. To promote this multidisciplinary initiative between natural sciences and culture, UNESCO and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University-Japan exchanged in 2001 the Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation in research for landslide risk mitigation and protection of the cultural and natural heritage. During the UNESCO/IGCP Symposium “Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage” organized in Tokyo in 2001, the participants agreed to propose an International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) as a platform of global cooperation on landslides and released the 2001 Tokyo Declaration “Geoscientists tame landslides”. ICL was established by the participants by adopting its statutes and selecting the first president during the International Symposium on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage held by UNESCO and Kyoto University in January 2002. Those background and planned activities are introduced.
