Communities around the world face many challenges, resource needs, and threats to their survival, livelihoods, and other physical and cultural assets. Examples include energy, food and water insecurity, land degradation, climate change, unsustainable urbanisation, and conflict. These, and other challenges, contribute to changes in levels of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability (as introduced in Module 1). 

For example, increases in corruption may exacerbate illegal deforestation, increasing the likelihood or magnitude of landslides. Settlement in these regions, without access to suitable waste management planning, degrades natural drainage, which also increases the likelihood or magnitude of landslides. Infrastructure development may change the likelihood or magnitude of flooding, as less water can infiltrate into the ground. Poverty in regions prone to flooding may exclude some households from affording suitable insurance or taking actions to reduce their own risk (e.g., relocating electrical sockets). 

Actions to tackle these challenges and advance 'sustainable development' can therefore help to reduce risk to individuals, communities, institutions, and infrastructure. Interventions may address inequalities, increase access to resources, or better plan urbanisation. Such actions can help to reduce the frequency or magnitude of certain hazards, and/or reduce levels of exposure and vulnerability. 

For example, embedding understanding of the subsurface (e.g. geotechnical properties, shallow geohazard potential) into urban planning can increase the safety of urban development (Mielby et al., 2017). Increasing access to education can reduce vulnerability to natural hazards by increasing understanding of Earth dynamics and environmental change and exploring steps to reduce risk (Mohadjer et al., 2021). 

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