Mapping and assessment of slash-and-burn farming in Palawan, Philippines using various fire and burnt area products

Slash-and-burn agriculture or kaingin is a method of clearing and burning of forest for the planting of agricultural and agro-forestry crops. Observed effects of kaingin are destruction of forests, grassland fires due to uncontrolled or accidental fires, degraded soil, cultivation leaching, massive erosion and landslide. This study utilizes Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Active Fire and Thermal Anomalies, Fire CCI (European Space Agency Fire Climate Change Initiative), and MODIS Burned Area for a study period of 2015 to 2022. Results show that both fire and burn products capture the burning season in Palawan, occurring in April and March with high fire pixel counts, concurrent to its climate's dry season. La Niña affected the trend across datasets wherein declines in fire pixel count during the years 2021 and 2022 were observed. The use of fire and burnt product depicted fire schemes across vegetation types. Clusters are assessed per vegetation type revealing fire incidents occurred predominately over shrublands with low intensity and temperature fire, and long duration of burns; and open forests with intense and high temperature fires with varying duration of burning. Moreover, density of fire occurrences are highest in the municipalities of Sofronio Espanola, Bataraza, Rizal, Quezon, Culion, Roxas, Aborlan, Taytay and Narra. Synergestic use of fire and burned area products is instrumental in understanding the quality and characteristics of fire; fire descriptors and schemes are crucial for fire management strategies.