Contribution of remote sensing and GIS to mapping the fire risk of Mediterranean forest case of the forest massif of Tlemcen (North-West Algeria)

Nadjla Bentekhici (), Sid-Ahmed Bellal and Ahmed Zegrar
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Nadjla Bentekhici: Algerian Space Agency (ASAL)
Sid-Ahmed Bellal: University of Oran 2
Ahmed Zegrar: Algerian Space Agency (ASAL)

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2020, vol. 104, issue 1, No 34, 831 pages

Abstract: Abstract Forest fires are one of the major environmental problems that cause harmful economic and ecological damage. The Algerian forest and in particular the Tlemcen forest massif where the national park is located are very affected by the repetition and the danger of fires. We count 1600 fire starts recorded during the period from 1980 to 2015. This situation is influenced by the ecotourism status and the high human accessibility, in the forest area as well as the significant development of road infrastructure in the middle of the forest. Noting also the characteristics of the plant formations and topographical in the area seriously promote the flammability and combustibility of the vegetation. Faced with this problem, it is necessary to protect the Tlemcen forest massif by mapping the risk zoning of forest fires. In order to achieve this objective, we followed an approach inspired by the Turkish model developed by Erten et al. (In: XXth ISPRS congress, youth forum, July 12–23, 2004, Istanbul, Turkey, pp 33–39, 2004) and based on the multi-criteria analysis method AHP with a hierarchical combination of six parameters, ecological, topographic and human on the one hand, and a classification of these parameters according to their sensitivities to fires on the other hand. This uses remote sensing data and GIS tools. The results obtained gave five risk classes (very low, low, medium, high and very high); the high and very high risk occupy 48.27% of the total surface studied. The validation of these results was made by the multitemporal analysis of satellite images dating from 2001 to 2017 and the superimposition of the burnt spaces detected on the fire risk map. The final documents provide valuable assistance to decision-makers and facilitate the protection and sustainable management of forests.

Keywords: Fire; Mediterranean forest; Risk; AHP model; GIS; Remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-020-04191-6

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