Mapping socio-ecological vulnerability of tropical peatland fires

Peatlands in Southeast Asia regularly experience fire due to clearance of forests and drainage for agriculture and plantation development. Fire represents a mainstay for rural communities managing tropical landscapes, but these can lead to uncontrolled ‘wild’ fires that pose a major threat to people and the ecosystem, leading to a cycle of increased susceptibility to fire and increased vulnerability of people and peat ecosystem to future fires. Using an exposure-sensitivity-adaptive capacity framework, we constructed indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of peatlands and communities to fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesia) and used these indicators to calculate the social and ecological vulnerability of peatlands and communities to fires. We operationalized this framework and defined spatial indicators which we used to construct three indices of vulnerability (ecological vulnerability, social vulnerability of burning, and social vulnerability smoke-haze). Our assessment found peatlands with high ecological vulnerability on eastern Sumatra (Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra), southern Kalimantan (Central, South Kalimantan), and East Kalimantan. Majority of these provinces overlapped with sites of high social vulnerability for burning (North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan) and high social vulnerability for smoke-haze (Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan). As districts play an important role in land use decisions and fire mitigation efforts, we identified the top six districts that had high numbers of villages with high ecological and social vulnerability scores. Hotspot analyses showed that ecological vulnerability hotspots were co-located with social vulnerability hotspots but clusters of social vulnerability hotspots for burning did not completely overlap with social vulnerability hotspots for smoke-haze. Our vulnerability assessment of peatlands and villages is the foundation for an important tool for policymakers at multiple governance levels to identify high ecological and social vulnerability to peatland fires and channel aid and mitigation efforts where they are most needed.