Spatio-temporal Dynamics of bush fires in Mont Péko national Park (West-Côte d'Ivoire)

Abstract

Following the 2016 break-out of illegally settled populations in Mont Péko national Park due to the political-military crises of 2002 to 2011, the phenomenon of uncontrolled wildfires reached alarming proportions. The purpose of this study was to determine, from the combined use of remote sensing and geographic information systems, the evolution of the intensity and the spaces traversed by the fires in this protected area between 2016 and 2018. For this purpose, two Landsat 8 satellite images from 2016 (before fires) and 2018 (after fires) were used. The results of this work reveal that 49.63% of the total area of the protected area, located in its North and South-East part, was covered by fires. Analysis of the distribution of fires across the different land use classes reveals a greater occurrence of fires in the crop and fallow class (10 519.38 ha) compared to the forest class (3 963.87 ha) and the class of bare soils and rocky outcrops (538.02 ha). Overall, the severity of fires in the park following the study period is moderate.