Forest Fire Risk Zonation Using Geospatial Techniques and Analytic Hierarchy Process in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India
Journal Title: Universal Journal of Environmental Research and Technology - Year 2014, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
Forest fires are one of the major natural risks in the forest of Uttarakhand. In such areas, fire occurs frequently and there is a need for global approaches that analyze wide scenarios of factors involved. It is impossible to control nature, but is possible to map forest fire risk zone (FFRZ) and thereby minimize the frequency of fire. The aims of the present study are 1) to set up and analyse the FFRZ over forested region of Dehradun 2) to see whether these forest fires are natural in nature or deliberately caused by people living adjacent to forest 3) to find firs prone areas and their prioritization. The model deals to combine geospatial data by Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to construct the FFRZ map. Influencing factors like vegetation moisture, slope, aspect, elevation, distance from roads, and vicinity of settlements have been taken into consideration. These variables were weighted based on their impact on the fire risk. Around 3.13% of total forested area was found to be in very high risk zone and 50.25% area was found to be in high-risk zone. The distribution of fire data over the FFRZ map shows that a very small part of them (1.26%) falls under very high risk zone and majority (98.74%) comes under high and moderate high risk zone areas. It indicates to a great extent that major part of forest fire is natural in nature and non-intentional. The people living nearby have the least role in causing these forest fires.
Authors and Affiliations
Arun Kumar Thakur and Dharmendra Singh
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP31880
- DOI -
- Views 371
- Downloads 1
Comparative Use of Chemical and Biological Fertilizers and Pesticides and their Health effects on Farmers in Satara Tahsil, Maharashtra
The extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the agriculture sector poses a serious problem to human health, environment and nation economy. Here, the relationship between the extent of use of chemical f...
Physicochemical Analysis of Soils from Eastern Part of Pune City
Soil is a natural body of mineral and organic material differentiated into horizons, which differ among themselves as well as from underlying materials in their morphology, physical make-up, chemical composition and bi...
Forest Fire Risk Zonation Using Geospatial Techniques and Analytic Hierarchy Process in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India
Forest fires are one of the major natural risks in the forest of Uttarakhand. In such areas, fire occurs frequently and there is a need for global approaches that analyze wide scenarios of factors involved. It is impossi...
Vulnerability Assessment of Rural Communities to Environmental Changes in Mid-Hills of Himachal Pradesh in India
Field survey was conducted during 2014 to study the vulnerability of rural communities to environmental changes in mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh in India. Integrated vulnerability analysis approach was employed based o...
Spatial Analysis of Composition and Species Interactions with Temporal Variation of Zooplankton Community of Shallow Tropical Lake: Thol Bird Sanctuary, India
Spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution of the zooplankton in a tropical Man-made reservoir- Thol Bird Sanctuary were investigated for two consecutive years from September 2007 to August 2009. The zooplankton...