Engaging Palm Oil and Hot Spot Area to Mitigate Forest Fires

¹ Information System Technical Department, Palangkaraya University, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
² Ph.D Candidate, Monash University, Australia
³ Ph.D candidate, Leiden University, Netherlands

^* Corresponding author: klamey@gmail.com

Abstract

Forest fire is one of environmental problem happens in Central Kalimantan. The fire does not only damage the forest ecosystem and biodiversity but also threaten the health and socio-economic of local people. Forest fire in Central Kalimantan is widely known as human-made, such as the process of shifting cultivation and land clearing. The expansion of forest into palm oil plantation is often blamed as the cause of forest fire since the forest clearing involves a massive amount of fires. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether the existence of palm oil cultivation contributes to the occurrence of forest fires. We used satellite imagery of hotspot, and overlay it with the land use data to generate the fire risk zone map using geographic information system (GIS) method. Through the map, the risk of fire can be monitored in advance to help the fire authority provide the act of mitigation. The result of this study suggested that risk mapping is vital for forest fire management to mitigate the spread of forest fire. The region to be fire-prone within the palm oil cultivation is suggested to form a preventive act through active forest-fires monitoring. In sum, this study is expected to provide a map of forest fires' risk around the cultivation area, mainly palm oil plantation, and help the fire authorities as well as stakeholders to identify the risk zone for fires prevention in the future.