Climate change is increasing landslide risk. Canadian tech has a solution
Published on Sep. 22, 2025, 7:46 PM
A new tool is giving experts a way to better understand and predict dangerous landslides and debris flows, as climate change and wildfire activity raise the risks for communities living near steep slopes. The Weather Network’s Connor O’Donovan reports.
From massive wildfires burning hot enough to leave water-resistant slopes in their wake to heavy rainfall events intense enough to loosen soil, vegetation and rock, there are numerous ways the forces of nature can increase the risk of landslides.
What’s more, Public Safety Canada notes the risk of landslides as a secondary hazard of wildfires and intense rainfall is only set to rise as a result of climate change.
While the cost of landslides to life, property, infrastructure, and natural resources can be extreme, an Alberta-based company has developed software it believes can mitigate some of this risk.
Estimated annual cost of landslides in Canada, according to Natural Resources Canada. (Graphic: The Weather Network/Natural Resources Canada)
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Richard Guthrie, director of Geohazards at Stantec and a lead developer of its “DebrisFlow Predictor” software, which can be used to model landslide risk in disaster-prone areas around the world.
He explains, for example, that the probability of a type of landslide known as a “debris flow” can go up “50 to a few hundred times” after a wildfire, citing California and Colorado as regions where such development has been observed.