Abstract
Forest fires constitute a major environmental problem in tropical countries, especially in the context of climate change and increasing human populations. This paper aims to identify the causes of frequent forest fires in Son La Province, a fire-prone and forested mountainous region in northwest Vietnam, with a view to constructing a forest fire-related database with multiple layers of natural, social and economic information, extracted largely on the basis of Landsat 7 images. The assessment followed an expert systems approach, applying multi-criteria analysis (MCA) with an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the weights of the individual parameters related to forest fires. A multi-indicator function with nine parameters was constructed to establish a forest fire risk map at a scale of 1:100,000 for use at the provincial level. The results were verified through regression analysis, yielding R2 = 0.86. A real-time early warning system for forest fire areas has been developed for practical use by the relevant government authorities to provide more effective forest fire prevention planning for Son La Province.
Highlights
Vietnam is a developing world country in the tropics which is rich in biodiversity, but especially vulnerable to environmental deterioration through a combination of the exploitation of its natural resources against the background of an increasing population, climate change and sea level rise [1,2].Tropical evergreen and deciduous forests occupy more than one third of the landscape in Vietnam and the degradation of these natural forests, in addition to its plantations, is recognized as a significantAppl
Including several GIS software packages, such as ArcGIS, QGIS, and multi-criteria spatial analysis in GIS, and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) [22] were applied to Forest fires were mostly concentrated in the Muong La, Son La and Sop Cop districts of the province mapping and integrating the information related to the forest fires
The results show that there is a correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.86) between the forecasted forest fire risk area and the real forest fire area at risk levels 4 and 5 (Figure 9)
Summary
Vietnam is a developing world country in the tropics which is rich in biodiversity, but especially vulnerable to environmental deterioration through a combination of the exploitation of its natural resources against the background of an increasing population, climate change and sea level rise [1,2].Tropical evergreen and deciduous forests occupy more than one third of the landscape in Vietnam and the degradation of these natural forests, in addition to its plantations, is recognized as a significantAppl. Vietnam is a developing world country in the tropics which is rich in biodiversity, but especially vulnerable to environmental deterioration through a combination of the exploitation of its natural resources against the background of an increasing population, climate change and sea level rise [1,2]. Tropical evergreen and deciduous forests occupy more than one third of the landscape in Vietnam and the degradation of these natural forests, in addition to its plantations, is recognized as a significant. Sci. 2020, 10, 4348 environmental problem [3]. Forest fires cause severe damage in both environmental and socioeconomic terms and threaten human lives and livelihoods [5]. In recent years in Vietnam, major forest fires have resulted in serious economic and environmental damage and contributed to increasing environmental pollution [3]. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of December 2016, there were almost 400 forest fires in 2015 [6] and it is a pressing issue for each forested area to take appropriate measures to accurately map the fire risk, and to develop early warning and forest fire prevention plans
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