Acevedo Cabra, R.; Wiersma, Y.; Ankerst, D. & Knoke, T. (2014): <b>Assessment of Wildfire Hazards with a Semiparametric Spatial Approach: A Case Study of Wildfires in South America</b>. <i>Environ Model Assess</i> <b>19</b>(6), 533-546.
Resource Description
Title:
Assessment of Wildfire Hazards with a Semiparametric Spatial Approach: A Case Study of Wildfires in South America
FOR816dw ID:
1269
Publication Date:
2014-05-14
License and Usage Rights:
PAK 823-825 data user agreement. (www.tropicalmountainforest.org/dataagreementp3.do)
Rural households in agricultural economies are<br/>
vulnerable to several environmental risks such as fires,<br/>
floods, and droughts that may affect their productivity in<br/>
whole or in part. These hazards are especially relevant in<br/>
developing countries where farmers have few or no access<br/>
to traditional risk-transfer techniques, such as insurance and<br/>
finance, and where low governmental investments in rural<br/>
infrastructure, risk assessment techniques, or early warning<br/>
systems makes the aftermath of such hazards more<br/>
expensive and results in slower recovery for those who are<br/>
affected. In this paper, we use historical satellite data (Terra)<br/>
of burned areas in South America to fit a semiparametric<br/>
spatial model, based on kernel smoothing and on a nonlinear<br/>
relationship between average time between events and damage,<br/>
to assess the environmental hazard affecting the land’s<br/>
productivity. The results were twofold: first, we were able<br/>
to develop a spatial assessment of fire hazard, and second,<br/>
we were able to evaluate how much a farmer may lose in<br/>
terms of productivity per hectare due to the environmental hazard. The methodology may be easily adapted to other<br/>
world regions; to different environmental hazards such as<br/>
floods, windbreak, windthrow, or related land-use changes;<br/>
or to integrate various environmental hazards simultaneously,<br/>
as long as they can be monitored via remote sensing<br/>
(e.g., satellite imagery, aerial photographs, etc).
Keywords:
| fire history |
Literature type specific fields:
ARTICLE
Journal:
Environ Model Assess
Volume:
19
Issue:
6
Page Range:
533-546
Publisher:
Springer
ISSN:
ISSN 1420-2026
Metadata Provider:
Individual:
Thomas Knoke
Contact:
email:
knoke <at> forst.tu-muenchen.de
Center of Life and Food Science Weihenstephan
Institute of Forest Management
Technische Universität München
Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2
85354 Freising
Germany
