Landslides can occur on any terrain, if some conditions are fulfilled. One of the main causes of landslides is water, especially in case of heavy precipitation, but there are also other causes such as earthquakes, changed underground water levels, wave influence, extra ballast slope, cut slope and others. A geological process like landslides, except material damage and human life hazard, may also cause huge environmental damage. Landslides may result in damage to vegetation, changes on surface and underground water systems, an impact on fauna, destruction of agriculture, formation of artificial dams which may significantly affect flora and fauna. In addition, landslides may cause damage to electric, gas, water and waste water systems, which in turn impact the environment. Air quality can be affected by damage to gas pipes, fire or damage to old asbestos pipes. But reverse processes are also possible, where environmental damage caused by deforestation and removal of other flora may generate landslides. In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are a number of examples where landslides cause more or less environmental damage. If we take into consideration the aforementioned and climate change over the past ten years and global change in the amount of precipitation than we can easily conclude that the prevention of landslide processes is very important for the environmental protection in our country.
Lollino, G; Manconi, A; Guzzetti, F; Culshaw, M; Bobrowsky, P; Luino, F;