Hillslope Hydrology and Slope Stability: A Nature-Based Solution (NBS) Approach

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding the interaction between hillslope hydrology and slope stability is essential for predicting landslide hazards and managing landscapes exposed to heavy rain or human disturbance. The concurrent effects of geomorphological, hydrological, ecological and land-use dynamics occur at a catchment scale and give rise to different stabilizing and destabilizing processes.

By integrating knowledge on hydrological processes with geotechnical principles, scientists and engineers can better assess risk and develop strategies, such as drainage control and vegetation management, and reduce slope instability impacts.

Nature-based solutions (NBSs) use ecological processes to counteract the effect of slope instability and regulate hillslope hydrology. They work by mimicking or enhancing natural mechanisms that control water movement and strengthen soil, often with the help of vegetation. NBSs are designed to provide a sustainable, adaptive and ecologically beneficial approach to managing hillslope hydrology and reducing climate change effects on hillslopes.

Research at this level often involves a combination of field monitoring, landslide inventory analysis and physician and numerical modelling, with the aim to evaluate how vegetation and management practices influence both landslide susceptibility and hydrological processes.

In this Special Issue, we welcome research and solutions that align with the preceding perspective.

The following topics fall under the remit of this Special Issue:

- Erosion-control management and techniques

- Shallow landslides and debris-flow management

- Effects of vegetation on slope stability

- Influence of vegetation on hydrological processes

- Nature-based solutions: design and modelling

- Soil bioengineering (ecoengineering) solutions: sustainability and resilience

- Processes at plant–soil–water–air interface

- Hydrological hazard assessment and mitigation at micro, meso, and macro scale

- landscape capacity and sensitivity for NBSs

- socio-economic aspects of hillslope hydrology and slope stability

Dr. Guillermo Tardio
Prof. Dr. Slobodan B. Mickovski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.