Assessing vulnerability of peat fire in the Indonesian Peat Hydrological Unit (PHU) areas

Abstract

Prevention of fires in peatlands must be based on a holistic landscape approach in the Peat Hydrological Unit (PHU), which involves mapping the areas vulnerable to peat fires. This study employed regression modeling, incorporating land cover, soil (peatland), concession area, and tree cover loss, which were linked to hotspots verified by burnt areas derived from datasets obtained from 2015 to 2019. The results of this study in Indonesian PHUs showed that 3.8 million hectares were vulnerable in the high-class area, 12.6 million hectares in the medium-class area, and 7.7 million hectares in the low-class area. The PHU of the Kahayan River-Sebangau River in Central Kalimantan Province was the largest area with high vulnerability to fires (covering an area of 190 thousand hectares). This model was verified using the fire hotspot approach; out of 38 fire spots that occurred from January to June 2023, 33 locations (86.84%) were detected according to the predicted vulnerability of the peat fires category (high and medium class).