Climate and Fire

IRI has worked with CARE Indonesia and Bogor Agriculture University (BAU) in Indonesia to support the development of early warning and response for fires in peatland areas of Indonesia.

This work is part of the Central Kalimantan Peatlands Project, a large consortium effort funded by DGIS of the government of the Netherlands and managed by Wetlands International, to support improved livelihoods and peatland restoration. For further information about this effort, please see the project page.

IRI, CARE and BAU have investigated links between climate anomalies, biophysical indicators, and fire hotspots in Central Kalimantan and neighboring provinces, where a large portion of Indonesia's peatlands are found. Project research has uncovered a close correlation between satellite rainfall data and fire hotspot activity in these areas. In particular, rainfall during the dry season from June to October is critical in determining fire activity. For further information about these research results, please contact Pietro Ceccato (pceccato@iri.columbia.edu).

This finding means that satellite rainfall data can help indicate whether an upcoming fire season will be more or less intense than usual. Therefore, IRI has developed an online tool to enable stakeholders to view satellite rainfall data and rainfall anomalies over Indonesia (see Indonesia Rainfall Analysis Tool below). Given the linkage uncovered between rainfall and fire activity in the Kalimantan region, data over these provinces can help assess fire risk.

In addition, IRI has developed Experimental Forecasts of Fire Activity in Central Kalimantan (see link below). These predict the likelihood of high or low fire activity 1-2 months in advance, using a correlation between an index of the sea surface temperature and the occurrence of fire hotspots in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

IRI is continuing to work with partners in Indonesia to improve these forecasting methods and tools, and to expand the analysis to other regions where the link between climate and fire activity has been demonstrated.