UNESCO Working Group on Land Subsidence
"Land Subsidence" was included in the UNESCO programme of the International Hydrological Decade (IHD), 1965–1974 and an ad hoc working group on land subsidence was formed. In 1975 subsidence was maintained under the framework of the UNESCO IHP and UNESCO IHP formerly codified the Working Group on Land Subsidence (WGLS). From 2018 the Working Group has become a UNESCO initiative changing its name to UNESCO Land Subsidence International Initiative (LASII).
The missions of the WGLS are:Improve scientific and technical knowledge needed to identify and characterize threats related to natural and anthropogenic land subsidence.
Stimulate and enable international exchange of information to sustenance sustainable groundwater resources development in areas susceptible to land subsidence through:design, implementation of mitigation actions as well as risk assessment.
proposal for new effective resource-management policies.
Annual Meeting WGLS 2015
Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope movement.
Subsided house, called The Crooked House, the result of 19th-century mining subsidence in Staffordshire, England
Mam Tor road destroyed by subsidence and shear, near Castleton, Derbyshire
Stabilizing damaged homes above underground mine in Bradenville PA USA
San Joaquin Valley subsidence