Natural hazards have a large impact on household livelihoods worldwide, especially in the Global South. Yet, literature on the adoption of risk reduction measures at individual level remains scattered and inconclusive. This study combines geographical data with an original cross-sectional household survey to investigate the effects of both exposure to and experience with landslides on the intention to plant trees to reduce landslide susceptibility. Logit regressions are used to test the protection motivation theory (PMT) and to investigate the link between intentions to plant trees against landslides and past experience, actual exposure, perceived threat and perceived capacity to prevent landslides. The results show that respondents in our study area are well aware of landslide risk and believe trees are effective in landslide susceptibility reduction. Yet, those farmers that would benefit most from reducing landslide susceptibility by planting trees have the lowest intention to do so. A strong, negative correlation is found between exposure and intention to plant trees. A low self-efficacy among these respondents and the presence of a non-protective response trap is proposed to explain this result. This finding has implications for policies for poverty reduction and public communication about landslides.