Presented by Michael Allen Brady, Principal Scientist CIFOR-ICRAF, at Wetlands Knowledge Exchange, 2 August 2021.

1. Wetlands Knowledge Exchange:
Fire Management in Wetlands
Restoration
Michael Brady, CIFOR-ICRAF
2 August 2021
Source: Auriga

2. Highlights: Wetlands, Peatlands, Fire and Restoration
• Peatlands are wetlands with a thick water-logged organic soil layer and include
peat swamp forests, bogs and mires.
• Peatlands represent half of the Earth's wetlands and cover 3% of the global total
land area
• In tropical wetlands, fires occur largely in peatlands
• Peatland restoration requires exclusion of fire, therefore fire prevention and
monitoring and early suppression are dominant management approaches
• Fire research on peatlands has had important impacts on policy and management
in recent years
• Recent focus on restoration requires new areas of fire research, as described
below

3. Fire Science and Management at CIFOR-ICRAF
RECENT TOPICS:
➢ Lessons from Community Based Fire Prevention and Peat Restoration
https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/007500
➢ Is Indonesian peatland loss a cautionary tale for Peru? A two-country comparison of the
magnitude and causes of tropical peatland degradation http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11027-018-
9790-3
➢ Characterising fire policy responses to complex socio-ecological problems
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.102027
➢ Reducing forest and land fires through good palm oil value chain governance
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.12.014
➢ How have carbon stocks in central and southern Africa’s miombo woodlands changed over
the last 50 years? A systematic map of the evidence https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0128-0
NEW DIRECTIONS IN APPLIED FIRE RESEARCH:
➢ National/regional focus: Fire management, mitigation potentials and NDCs
➢ Fire monitoring and occurrence: Hotspots of fire activity in changing fuels; implications of fire
policy if climate drives current fire trends
➢ Fire impacts: Improving burned area mapping for GHG carbon accounting and identifying shifting
trends in fuel types
➢ Management: Scaling livelihood options in fire free communities; Testing appropriate controlled
burning system; Strengthening management interpretations for increasing fire danger levels
➢ Engagement and leadership: Establishing a Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) on
wildland fire
https://gfmc.online/allgemein/gfmc-calendar-
2019.html

4. Regional Stocktake of Fire Knowledge Products for
Restoration
• Stocktaking and gap analysis of peatland fire and haze
knowledge products from 1980-2020 in ASEAN to support regional
cooperation
• 253 publications across 5 themes: management policy; land tenure
and land use; communities and livelihoods; best management
practices; and monitoring
• Updating and translating existing knowledge products
• Identifying gaps in knowledge and capacity and developing new
knowledge products for ASEAN fire management and peatlands
• Applying knowledge products and capacity development to
strengthen fire and peatland policies and establish an investment
framework
Measurable Action for Haze-Free Sustainable Land
Management in Southeast Asia (MAHFSA)
Programme

5. Knowledge Contributions for Policy and Management
Examples of ASEAN and Indonesian fire and peatland policies

6. Existing Tools for Forecasting Fire Danger and
Occurrence in Peatlands for Restoration
FIRE DETECTION
7-day hot spot detection in peat areas of South Sumatra Province
http://sipongi.menlhk.go.id/peta/filter
FIRE DANGER RATING
Drought code of across Indonesia
representing heavy fuels including peat
https://www.bmkg.go.id/cuaca/kebakaran-
hutan.bmkg?index=dc&wil=indonesia&day
=obs
Indonesia Fire Danger Rating
System (SPARTAN) Indonesia SiPongi Hot Spot Detection System
ASEAN Fire Danger Rating
System
Uses measured meteorological variables
such as temperature, relative humidity,
rainfall and wind speed collected from
meteorological stations in the Southeast
Asia region. http://asmc.asean.org/asmc-
fire-fwi/ Produced daily by the Malaysia
Meteorological Department.
Reference: https://rfmrc-sea.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Development-of-the-Indonesian-
and-Malaysian-Fire-Danger-Rating-Systems.pdf

7. New Fire Knowledge Areas to Support Restoration in Peatlands 1:
Standardized Burned Area Mapping and Analysis (IFAD
MAHFSA)
• Identified as a gap in knowledge products for ASEAN member
states to regularly map burned areas (BA) using a consistent,
accurate and internationally recognized approach
• Indonesia Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) has
been systematically recording burned area annually since 2016
http://sipongi.menlhk.go.id/hotspot/luas_kebakaran
• CIFOR initiating cooperation with MoEF to develop standardized
guide for BA mapping and estimation including accuracy
assessment
• Guide to be translated to ASEAN national languages for
countries to use and training provided
Source: DOI: 10.1071/WF08187
Approach using satellite
time-series analysis to
update and validate
burned-area estimates
https://essd.copernicus.or
g/preprints/essd-2021-
113/

8. New Fire Knowledge Areas to Support Restoration in
Peatlands 2: Fire in Upland Peatlands of Borneo and
New Guinea (IKI SAGU Project)
• Intended impact: Reduced degradation and loss of
peatland ecosystems in lowland and uplands
landscapes of the large islands of New Guinea and
Borneo islands
• Support from the German International Climate
Initiative (IKI)
• 5-year duration (2022-2026)
• Delineation and mapping of remote lowland and
upland peatlands
• Restoration and fire management in upland peatlands
Source: https://www2.cifor.org/global-wetlands/

9. New Fire Knowledge Areas in Peatlands 3: Fire Behavior
Prediction and Monitoring for Analyst Training (France/AFD)
• Fire behavior models head Fire Intensity or energy
output at the head of the fire
• Helps assess risks before fires start, then project their
path, growth, difficulty of control and suppression
• https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/background/
summary/fbp
Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP)
System
• Using new technology and better positioning of resources
to keep small blazes from erupting into uncontrollable fires
• Using drones to fly over fires at night, using heat imaging
to map boundaries and hot spots
• https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/jul/23/technology-has-
growing-role-corralling-us-west-wil/
Aerial Image Systems for Real Time Fire
Monitoring in Peatlands

10. Key Messages
• Peatland restoration requires exclusion of fire, therefore fire prevention and
monitoring and early suppression are dominant management approaches
• Fire research on peatlands will have increasingly important impacts on policy and
management
• New fire research areas are needed to ensure restoration success in peatlands

11. CIFOR
Jalan CIFOR
Situ Gede, Sindang Barang
Bogor (Barat) 16115
Indonesia
cifor.org
World Agroforestry
United Nations Avenue
Gigiri, PO Box 30677
Nairobi 00100
Kenya
worldagroforestry.org
Thank You