Land clearing area prioritization using GLAD alert data to prevent peat fires in South Sumatera, Indonesia

Abstract

Peatland clearing and draining are associated with many peat fires in South Sumatera. In 2020 we developed prioritization of peat land clearing areas using GLAD alert data to prevent catastrophic peat fires. GLAD alert data is near real-time alerting system that detects loss of trees, produced by University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch. This research aims to get prioritized area indicating land clearing and to test its reliability to prevent peat fires in South Sumatra. A total of 634 cluster areas indicating peatland clearing were found in between July and September 2020, which 20 of those cluster areas are selected for validation (ground truth). Validation was conducted by field survey and flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 3 districts, namely Musi Rawas Utara, Banyuasin, and Ogan Komering Ilir. The survey confirmed that 19 clusters experienced forest fires, land clearing, and rejuvenation of plantation. Meanwhile, the others became savanna from previous forest fires and former land clearing by burning. Prioritization areas using GLAD alert data was capable to detect land clearing, but further study is needed to predict peat fires due to peatland clearing.