(HCVF) Toolkit for Malaysia - HCV Resource Network

HCV 4.3 Barriers to Destructive Fire
Any specific areas that can act as barriers to provide protection of forests, especially forests with high
conservation values, from fire, in areas that are generally fire-prone and where the consequences are
potentially severe, can be considered HCV 4.3.
Identification of HCV 4.3
Task
Determine if area is prone to fire e.g.
peat swamps and forest areas which
have been subject to fire previously.
Include other examples of fire-prone
areas (e.g. podzolic or edaphic soils)
Determine if area is adjacent to any
forests containing any other HCVs.
Determine if forest area is adjacent
to plantations (any plantation-forest
edge is susceptible to fire during long
dry periods) or settlements (Sarawak:
‘temuda’).
Data sources & requirements
State Forestry Department records of forest fire
occurrences.
Maps, satellite imagery and data on other HCVFs in
FMU (Forest Departments, Malaysian Remote Sensing
Agency, data from HCVF assessments).
Maps and satellite imagery of settlements and land
use in and adjacent to the FMU (Forest Departments,
Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency), community
consultation for traditional ecological knowledge.
Sabah: Forest Fire Rating (Forestry Department).
Management and Monitoring for HCV 4.3
Management Recommendations
Include in FMP the identification of
any specific features that may act as
barriers to fire, and prescriptions for
managing these areas. Natural barriers
could include water courses, ridges or
gullies. Intact natural forest may also
act as a natural barrier.
Particular attention should be paid to
the maintenance of the water table in
vulnerable peat swamp forests.
Guidance
Malaysian Meteorological Department Fire Danger
Rating System (www.met.gov.my)
10.
Sabah: Fire Risk map (plantations, http://www.forest.
sabah.gov.my/conservation/nfire%20prevention.pdf) Fire
Danger Rating System (FDRS), community consultation
for traditional ecological knowledge.
Sarawak: Applicable for License Planted Forest holders
where Fire Management Plan is outlined in Tree Planting
Plan.
Monitor the frequency of fires in
previously identified fire-prone areas.
Field surveys.
10
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) maintains a fire danger rating system for the whole of the country.
MMD uses a number of indicators of the potential for fires to start and spread throughout Malaysia at any time.
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