Steps towards the development of a Peat Fire Danger Rating System in Indonesia

Abstract

Fire danger rating systems (FDRS) are a critical tool, used around the world to help predict and prevent wildfires. Forest and land fires are a severe problem in Indonesia, with smoke and haze production exacerbated by the country’s extensive tropical peatlands, many of which are drained and burn almost annually. The Indonesian FDRS was established in 1999 under the Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency, in partnership with other government agencies, and is largely based on atmospheric data. Indonesia’s FDRS differentiates land types, including peatlands, but only predicts surface fire risk, rather than the risk of peatland surface fires becoming below-ground peat fire – which emit greater amounts of haze-producing smoke. This study proposes how Indonesia’s FDRS might be further developed to include below-ground peat fire risk. This was achieved based on consultation with government agencies which manage and provide data to Indonesia’s FDRS, and the establishment of a Peat FDRS Stakeholder Engagement Network. We describe which biophysical, social-economic or atmospheric input variables are needed in such a model to quantify the peat fire risk. We present what field data is currently available (e.g. weather) and which factors require additional data collection, including some aspects of land and social data, and, notably, bio-physical ground data on fuel loads and fuel moisture content. Data is presented by type, historical availability, scale and reliability, presented in a visually clear colour-coded table. This information can support the development of a specific peat fire risk section within Indonesia’s current FDRS.