Unit 1 – General Guidance
New Zealand is highly vulnerable to natural hazard risks, as evidenced by earthquakes and storm events over recent decades. Landslides form a significant part of the natural hazard spectrum in New Zealand and are more common here than many countries because of our terrain and unstable geology. As a society, and as the need of space for residential development in urban areas becomes critical, we are pushing subdivisions and development increasingly into areas that have significant landslide or slope instability potential. Together with the effects of climate change, our future risks from landsliding and slope instability are likely to increase considerably.
In 2022 the New Zealand Geotechnical Society started development of a series of Slope Stability Guidance documents for use in New Zealand. Unit 1 – General Guidance is intended as an overarching document with a series of units (Unit 2 – 7) currently in development. Unit 1 provides overview recommendations on Slope Movement Types and Processes, Landslide Recognition and Identification, Landslide Investigation Methods, The Engineering Geological Model, Risk Assessment, Slope Stability Modelling, Rockfall, Debris Flow, Mitigation and Design Principles and Emergency Response.