Ecological vulnerability in landslide risk measurement in the municipality of Barra do Turvo, São Paulo, Brazil

Landslides are one of the main types of geological disasters. They can result in material, economic, and life losses, as well as negatively impact the ecosystem and its services. This study establishes a three-dimensional model for assessing the ecological risk by landslide susceptibility, ecological vulnerability, and local population exposure. The ecological vulnerability assessment considered ecological values and regeneration delay. The model was applied in Barra do Turvo, a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and situated in the Serra do Mar mountain range, which has records of previous landslides. The ecological vulnerability results showed that the territory presented a distribution of 45.55% low vulnerability and 41.96% moderate vulnerability, while only 11.56%, 0.82%, and 0.10% exhibited high, very low, and very high vulnerability indices, respectively. The study demonstrates that, despite the predominantly low ecological vulnerability of the study area, ecosystem conservation is still extremely important, as conserved ecosystems can mitigate risks and reduce environmental damage. The results obtained for risk were: 25.55% low risk; 23.01% moderate risk; and 20.15% high risk, with the very low and very high classes representing 15.47% and 15.82% respectively. In conclusion, we highlight the possibility of applying the proposed model in other locations, due to the use of open-access data, and the potential for it to be used by public managers to direct actions aimed at reducing risks.