Abstract
Forest fires constitute a foremost environmental calamity that distresses the sustainability of the forest. The main source of degradation of Jharkhand forests are forest fires conquered by forest species of Sal and Bamboo. Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand state, India, is becoming more susceptible to forest fire due to anthropogenic disturbance coupled with speedy upsurge in population. In this study, forest fire risk in PTR was evaluated based on various fire inducing factors, viz., forest fuel, settlements, roads, bare soil index, elevation slope and aspect. Geoinformatics based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) through method of AHP (analytic hierarchy process) used to extract forest fire risk map in five classes: Very low risk, low risk, moderate risk, high risk and very high risk. The results obtained showed that about 180 km2 (14.85%) falls under very low fire risk zone, 234 km2 (19.30%) falls in low fire risk zone, 269.73 km2 (22.16%) falls under moderate fire risk zone, 299.36 km2 (24.59%) falls under high fire risk zone and 232.56 km2 (19.10%) falls in very high fire risk zone. Forest fire risk map was validated from historical fire incidents observed through field data, MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS satellite products. The results showed that the geoinformatics based forest fire risk zones delineated through MCDA-AHP method are in good agreement with historical forest fire occurrences, henceforth may be utilised for fire planning for mitigation in forest areas.
Research Highlights
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PTR is becoming more susceptible to forest fire due to anthropogenic disturbance coupled with speedy upsurge in population.
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Forest Fires Risk was evaluated based on various fire inducing factors viz., forest fuel, settlements, roads, bare soil index, elevation slope and aspect through method of AHP.
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Forest fire risk map was validated from historical fire incidents observed through field data, MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS satellite products.
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The results showed that the geoinformatics based forest fire risk zones are in good agreement with historical forest fire occurrences henceforth may be utilised for fire planning for mitigation in forest areas.
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Abbreviations
- MCDA:
-
Multi-criteria decision analysis
- AHP:
-
Analytic hierarchy process
- PTR:
-
Palamau Tiger Reserve
- ASL:
-
Above sea level
- FFRI:
-
Forest fire risk index
- WSM:
-
Weighted-sum-method
- CR:
-
Consistency ratio
- RCI:
-
Random consistency index
- RI:
-
Consistency index
- BI:
-
Bare soil index
- DEM:
-
Digital elevation model
- DPAP:
-
Drought prone areas programme
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Acknowledgements
We thank Central University of Jharkhand for all the vital assistance and support. We are also grateful to Forest Department, Jharkhand for providing the essential information and data about the study area, i.e., Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand.
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Binita Kumari wrote the manuscript with comments from Arvind Chandra Pandey. Binita Kumari has developed the ideas and framework for the manuscript.
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Communicated by N V Chalapathi Rao
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Kumari, B., Pandey, A.C. Geo-informatics based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) through analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for forest fire risk mapping in Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand state, India. J Earth Syst Sci 129, 204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01461-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01461-6