A common farming tool is the setting of controlled fires.
This is the most cost effective way to both clear a field of weeds and to
fertilize the same field. While it is financially cost effective the misuse of
fires in the Amazon can be very costly. During the dry season damages from
forest fires used by farmers and ranchers accounts for about one-hundred
million dollars in damages. The damage is not due to fire directly but also due
to the smoke produced by the fires. The smoke causes car crashes, asthma
attacks and airport closures. These factors led to the development of laws
making forest fires illegal. Despite these laws there are concerns over
developing industry in the Amazon, and the potential for this industry to light
fires. Within this study they created a conceptual model for the occurrence of
fire. The model was based on the premise that fires were dependent on land use,
the number of potential ignitions and, environmental factors such as climate
and, vegetation. They also set up equations for various probabilities such as
accidental fires, like those caused by lightning strikes, or forest fires
caused by a fire escaping the containment zone.
When creating their GIS model they used data collected by from multiple
digital maps about the legal amazon. They then used 5x5km cells to create a
raster environment in order to analyze the data. They then used ones and zeros
to represent whether a fire occurred in a specific area or not. In their
analysis they also took economic factor into consideration. The two major
factors they took into consideration were the production of beef, and the
production of soybeans, two of the area’s most valuable commodities. Finally their
model included quite a few control variables such as deforestation, and
rainfall. They found that the occurrence of fires had a high correlation with
the yield of the two main economic factors. They came to the conclusion that
controlled fires in accordance with environmental laws may be the best of both
worlds, causing high economic gains, while still being coupled with safe
practices.
Arima, E. Y., Simmons, C. S., Walker, R. T., & Cochrane, M. A. (2007). Fire In The Brazilian Amazon: A Spatially Explicit Model For Policy Impact Analysis*. Journal of Regional Science, 47(3), 541-567.
While it is good that they found a way to safely use the fires while following the environmental laws the potentially negative outcomes are still there. Hopefully in the future there will be a technique to be able to prepare and clear the lands without the negatives. These techniques might also help prevent the lands from accidental fires.
ReplyDeleteUsing fire can allow newer plants to grow and helps move the cycle of plant life along, however with the introduction of newer plants and animals for agricultural purposes there is a possibility for invasive species. It would be interesting to use GIS to see if the scorched areas were being recovered by native or non native species.
ReplyDeleteUsing fire can allow newer plants to grow and helps move the cycle of plant life along, however with the introduction of newer plants and animals for agricultural purposes there is a possibility for invasive species. It would be interesting to use GIS to see if the scorched areas were being recovered by native or non native species.
ReplyDelete