Las causas de los incendios de principios del año 2022 en la provincia de Corrientes

Abstract

Fire is a natural grassland management tool, often used to eliminate the standing dead biomass and promote growth before the growing season. However, while there is a lack of data on the seasonal use of fire in the province of Corrientes, natural and induced fires in early 2022 affected over 10000 km2 at the peak of the growing season. This paper quantifies the extent of the fire-affected area in Corrientes during January and February 2022 and analyzes the contribution of natural and anthropogenic factors to the extent of the fire-affected area. We used the Google Earth Engine platform to identify and classify burnt areas using Sentinel satellite images, and applied simple and multiple regression analysis to investigate the contribution of natural and anthropogenic factors to the extent of the fire-affected area. Results show that 12% of Corrientes was affected by fire during the study period, with wetlands being the most affected land cover type. This study provides evidence of the relationship between natural and anthropogenic factors and the fires that affected Corrientes at the beginning of 2022. The results show that the reduction of water area and protected areas was positively and directly related to the extent of burnt areas, while the road network and livestock density were inversely and negatively related to the burned area size. Predicting fire patterns is essential to develop management policies to prevent or reduce the impact of future catastrophic events.