Spatio-temporal distribution of forest and land fires in Labuhanbatu Utara District, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Labuhanbatu Utara District, is one of the most prone area of forest and land fire in North Sumatera Province, Indonesia. Spatial and temporal distribution of forest and land fire are needed to determine for managing fire effectively. The objectives of this study are to determine the period of forest and aland fires and to determine the relationship between land cover and hotspot. Utara District. The method used is spatial analysis of the relationship between hotspot and monthly rainfall and distribution hotspot based on land cover type. The results found that the highest hotspot number occurred in 2005 while the lowest occurred in 2017. Forest and land fires occurred two periods in every year in Labuhanbatu Utara District namely on February-March and June-August. Land cover type has the highest percentage of the hotspot located at plantation area. Shrubs is land cover that have stable detected hotspot percentage every year. Based on the research, the factors causing land and forest fires are human activities such as land clearing activity for converting forest to rubber plantation and oil palm plantation.