Fire in Borneo Peatlands

Abstract

Fire is presently the most important disturbance affecting vegetation cover at a global scale, with an estimated 6 million km2 affected on an annual basis. The largest increase in regional fire activity is currently occurring in the humid tropics, particularly in the rainforests of Southeast Asia and South America. Before recent times, fire activity was both infrequent and atypical of these tropical forest environments, but now wildfires are increasing rapidly, resulting in extensive forest loss and degradation and a wide range of environmental, social, and economic impacts.