ASSESSMENT OF FIRE VULNERABILITY THROUGH HUMAN ACTIVITY BY USING ROAD DISTRIBUTION IN PEAT LAND OF INDONESIA

摘要

Peat land is one of the largest CO_2 emission source due to the fires and decomposition. Especially, tropical region has 10% of global peat soil. However, ground water table of tropical peat lands is decreased drastically by human activity for converting to agricultural use. Fire events on peat lands are continued for land clearance. Moreover, dryness of peat promotes fire occurrence. The objective of this study is to reveal vulnerability against fire of Indonesian peat lands by using analysis of relationship between location of fire and human accessibility. First of all, M0D14 of MODIS hotspot was used with method of extraction high temperature of surface. The loss of biomass is calculated by sum of above ground biomass and soil organic matter. Secondly, ground water table describing peat soil dryness was calculated by Keetch-Byram drought index (KBDI). Satellite-sensed data with precipitation (GSMaP) and land surface temperature (MTSAT) were used. Thirdly, vulnerability against fire is revealed by road distribution and detection of fire location. The reasons of fire are dryness of peat or human activity. This study investigated the distance to the road as an indicator of vulnerability peat area because human accessibility is considered as a possibility of fire. Finally, the reason of fire is classified by two cases. The one is natural reason such as dryness and the other is artificial way. In case of that the fire was occurred under drought condition and was far from road, it is considered to natural burning event caused by dryness. If fire was occurred even under moist condition and location was close from street, it is expected as human made fire. For reducing CO_2 emission from peat lands of Indonesia, not only rewetting ground water table but also control of human disturbance are important. Thus, fire vulnerability analysis can be useful data on reducing CO_2 emission of tropical peat lands.