Mountain Mapping (Atlas)

Atlas is a website that allows organisations to take informed decisions on where and how to take measures (with nature-based solutions or built structures) that are crucual for protecting mountainous regions from flooding and erosion.

Mountain Region Focus (for now)

🏔️ Flash floods in mountainous basins are regarded as one of the world's most dangerous hazards due to steep slopes and the dense fully networks through which the water flows during and after intense rainfall events. Because the steep terrain accelerates runoff and erosion, these regions concentrate both hazards in a way that flat terrain does not.

• Breakdown of Issues

🌊 Flooding
When it rains, enormous amounts of water come down the mountains with a high velocity and force. They are guided through gullies. Depending on where the gullies lead to, this water causes serious damage and danger to the lives of people, animals and the living environment.

🪨 Erosion
Soil loss and soil/rock displacement is an important and related issue. Declined groundwater levels and absence of vegetation are among the reasons why the stability of the mountain edges is at risk. During the earlier mentioned rainfall events, this water "slides" down the mountain edges faster than before, because there's nothing breaking its fall or allowing it to draw into the ground. This causes soil and even rocks to come loose and be transported along with the water. 

This loose material leaves behind weak areas prone to landslides and is likely to cause hazards (for animals / people), damage (to villages / infrastructure / land...) and inaccessibilty wherever they end up. They cause blockage in irrigation systems and, when ending up in the river, negatively impact the entire watersystem. To come full circle: decreased river storage capacity increases the risk of flooding.

🫨 Earthquakes
800 million people live in mountain regions. Where those mountains sit on fault lines (as in the Atlas, the Himalayas, the Andes, which are densely populated regions) earthquakes occur. The interaction between floods and earthquakes is scientifically well established. Areas that have grown weaker due to floods, will experience even more devestation from earthquakes.

👥 Social Impact
Locally, the communities impacted often live in poverty and have a lack of resources. On a larger scale, these issue impact entire watersystems and nations' (economic) resources).

Moving Towards Protection & Restoration

Instead of focusing on early alert and emergency response, we choose to facilitate informed decisions to create sustainable and longterm progress. 

To allow for well informed decision making and design of protection- and restoration measures for mountainous areas dealing with the above issues, the following information is considered relevant:

1) Understanding the area

• Mapping the area (3D)
  For mountain regions, this is impossible to do in 2D or with a sketch/photos, which would be more feasible for a river or coastline
• Undertanding of the system of gullies
  Through which ones are water and ground material transported to places where they cause problems?
• Understanding of waterflow and patterns (inc. amount of water and speed)
• Understanding erosion patterns and sceptibility (where is soil lost and where does it go)
• Related to previous point: understanding water storage capacity (for example in the ground and in the river)
• Presence and absence of vegetation

2) Knowing where measures need to be taken

• Which gullies form a risk? 
  Depending on characteristics such as steepness and capacity, as well as where they end up (for example to the village or infrastructure)
• Which mountain areas have a risk of erosion? 
  Depending on soil type and vegetation

3) Understanding what measures could be effective per location

• Insight into whether nature-based solutions can offer solutions
  Nature based solutions could be vegetations or built structures.
• Insight into whether non-nature-based solutions can offer solutions.
  More in the direction of obstructions (such as dams) or complexer engineering solutions.
• Insight into whether obstructive structures (such as dams) could offer solutions

Solution

ATLAS is a 3D model, accessed through a website (later on also through an app), that shows the geography of the area and gives access to data per location. The data is a combination of space data available (continuously updated) and locally collected data. It will serve as a centralized tool, containing all the information and simulations to facilitate the three steps described above.

Who?

• In our business set-up, we target NGO's and local organisations who already have restoration and protection of these areas high on their priority list. They are active on the ground and in contact with the communities, therefore, we see them as the right partner who can achieve the most with our product. 
• Through the NGO's, we also service governments (who in turn, provide funds to the NGO's). Local governments have their responsibility to the area and have funds available for initiatives like these. International governments have commitments to development goals and climate contracts they need to comply with. Therefore, they also have funds available. 

Good to know:

1. In the hackathon, the focus is on Tighza, a village located at the mouth of the Ounila River in the High Atlas in Morrocco. This area deals with serious floods, erosion and earthquakes. Measure taken for Tighza also benefit the entire system downstream.
2. The project is set-up with scalability in mind from the start. It is applicable on a global scale (even in non-mountainous areas) and the data is valuable to a list of other (commercial) potential clients).