Forest and Land Fires Are Mainly Associated with Deforestation in Riau Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia has experienced extensive land-cover change and frequent vegetation and land fires in the past few decades. We combined a new land-cover dataset with satellite data on the timing and location of fires to make the first detailed assessment of the association of fire with specific land-cover transitions in Riau, Sumatra. During 1990 to 2017, secondary peat swamp forest declined in area from 40,000 to 10,000 km 2 and plantations (including oil palm) increased from around 10,000 to 40,000 km 2 . The dominant land use transitions were secondary peat swamp forest converting directly to plantation, or first to shrub and then to plantation. During 2001-2017, we find that the frequency of fire is greatest in regions that change land-cover, with the greatest frequency in regions that transition from secondary peat swamp forest to shrub or plantation (0.15 km −2 yr −1 ). Areas that did not change land cover exhibit lower fire frequency, with shrub (0.06 km −2 yr −1 ) exhibiting a frequency of fire >60 times the frequency of fire in primary forest. Our analysis demonstrates that in Riau, fire is closely connected to land-cover change, and that the majority of fire is associated with the transition of secondary forest to shrub and plantation. Reducing the frequency of fire in Riau will require enhanced protection of secondary forests and restoration of shrub to natural forest.Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3 2 of 12 to protected areas [15,16]. Fire is used as part of the land-conversion process, to clear vegetation in preparation for agriculture and plantations [17]. In Riau, Indonesia, fires are six times more frequent in regions experiencing recent tree cover loss compared to regions with no loss [16].Understanding the links between land-cover change and fire is necessary to inform land and fire management and fire suppression efforts. However, there is still poor understanding of the fraction of fire that is associated with specific land-cover changes. Satellite datasets provide some information on land-cover change (i.e., canopy cover loss), but there is rarely detailed information on the specific land-cover transitions that occur. Here we combine a new land-cover dataset with information on the location and timing of fires from satellite, to make the first assessment of the association between fire and specific land-cover transitions in Indonesia. We focus on Riau province, one of the most active areas of fire in Indonesia. Materials and MethodsOur study area consists of the province of Riau, Sumatra, covering 89,691 km 2 and consisting of 43% peatland [16]. We used the land-cover map provided by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry the land-cover classification was conducted as a part of National Forest Inventory (NFI) project which predominantly relied on analysis of Landsat imagery. During 2000During -2009 Landsat images were combined with 1000 m SPOT Vegetation and 250 m MODIS images, but the classification still depended on visual image interpretation. Finally, since 2009 only Landsat images have b...

The impact of tropical land-use change on downstream riverine and estuarine water properties and biogeochemical cycles: a review

“…Humid tropical forests are generally resistant to burning, but the transition from primary to secondary forests, shrubs, pastures, and agricultural plantations increases the frequency of fires (da Silva et al 2018;Adrianto et al 2020). Not only natural wildfires but also intentional burning to remove weeds for agriculture may trigger extensive fires.…”

Transformation of Lowland Rainforest into Oil-palm Plantations and use of Fire alter Topsoil and Litter Silicon Pools and Fluxes

“…Short-lived local fires can also occur out of these periods [10] [11]. In Indonesia, fires were detected in rubber, wood fiber and oil-palm plantations, forested areas and shrubland [10,11,68,69]. [10] reported that 16.6% of the fires detected between 2012 and 2015 on Sumatra and Kalimantan were located within legal agro-industrial oil-palm concessions.…”

“…[10] reported that 16.6% of the fires detected between 2012 and 2015 on Sumatra and Kalimantan were located within legal agro-industrial oil-palm concessions. Adrianto et al (2019) [69] showed that in Riau Province on Sumatra, Indonesia, most fires occur when forest or shrubland is converted to oil palm, wood fibre and logging plantations. They showed, that in regions that did not change land-cover a total area of 0.017 km 2 y −1 was affected by fire in plantations over the period 2002 -2016 compared to shrubland (0.067 km 2 y −1 ) and primary wet and dry forests (0.001 km 2 y −1 ) [69].…”

“…Adrianto et al (2019) [69] showed that in Riau Province on Sumatra, Indonesia, most fires occur when forest or shrubland is converted to oil palm, wood fibre and logging plantations. They showed, that in regions that did not change land-cover a total area of 0.017 km 2 y −1 was affected by fire in plantations over the period 2002 -2016 compared to shrubland (0.067 km 2 y −1 ) and primary wet and dry forests (0.001 km 2 y −1 ) [69]. Marlier et al (2015) [68] reported that in 2006 most of the plantation-related fire emissions on Kalimantan came from oil-palm concessions (33% of the area and 67% of the emissions of fires).…”

Amazon Peatlands in Peril: A Warning for Global Warming

“…Another worrying fact is the degradation of forest-associated ecosystem, such as the peatland ecosystems of the Amazon, concentrated in Western and Central Amazon, mainly in Peru and Brazil (Román-Cuesta et al 2011, Lähteenoja et al 2012, Lähteenoja et al 2013, Draper et al 2014. Increased deforestation due to land use make these wet ecosystems susceptible to fire (Adrianto et al 2020). The peatlands comprise ecosystems that concentrate large amounts of carbon reserves, storing 1-8 PgC (1 Pg = 1 billion tons), in an area of approximately 35,000 km 2 (Lähteenoja et al 2012).…”