EMA turns to satellites to protect land and livelihoods from wildfires

EMA is combining satellite monitoring, fire-risk mapping and community-based prevention to tackle Zimbabwe's annual wildfire threat.

By Obey Musiwa

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) is turning to satellite technology and computer-generated risk mapping to strengthen Zimbabwe's fight against wildfires as the country enters another potentially dangerous dry season.

The agency is using vegetation data to identify areas most vulnerable to veld fires before the season begins, while satellite-based remote sensing is being used to detect active fires and alert authorities on the ground. EMA environmental education and publicity manager and spokesperson Amkela Sidange said the technology was becoming an important part of the agency's wildfire preparedness strategy.

She said fire management was not simply an environmental issue, but a matter of protecting homes, forests, farms, infrastructure and livelihoods. “Looking back over the past 23 years, we have lost lodges, forestry and farming equipment, and a lot of our energy infrastructure has been destroyed by fire,” Sidange said. “It's not only about property; human livelihoods remain our major concern.”

EMA conducts an annual fire-risk assessment towards the end of the rainy season using the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a satellite-based measure that helps assess vegetation health and density. The information is then used to determine the amount and condition of vegetation available as fuel for fires.

Sidange said the latest assessment indicated that much of Zimbabwe was facing medium to high fire risk, with Manicaland and parts of Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South among the areas of greatest concern. “As we approach the end of the rainy season, we do what we call the fire risk prediction, using the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index to look at the health of vegetation and determine what risk it presents,” she said.

“This year the assessment showed that most of the country is at medium to high risk, with Manicaland, parts of Matabeleland North, and some districts in Matabeleland South leading in that riskiness.” The risk mapping gives authorities an opportunity to concentrate awareness campaigns, preparedness measures and resources in areas considered particularly vulnerable.

But EMA's monitoring does not stop once the dry season begins. The agency also uses satellite remote sensing to identify active fires by detecting heat signatures on the ground. Sidange said satellite observations were received several times a day, allowing EMA to identify fires and communicate information to structures operating on the ground. “As we move closer to the dry period, we go into fire monitoring using a remote sensor, and this is actually real time; we are able to tell where there is a fire and communicate with structures on the ground,” she said.

She said satellite passes at around 10.30 am and 1.30 pm provided near-real-time information that helped the agency track fire activity. The approach combines two stages of wildfire management, predicting where fires are most likely to become a threat and detecting them once they occur. EMA is also relying heavily on communities and traditional leaders to strengthen fire prevention and response.

Sidange said traditional leaders were increasingly using customary systems to address wildfire-related incidents within their communities. She said local systems were important because EMA could not respond individually to every village when fires broke out. “We are taking advantage of what traditional leaders are doing through their traditional courts; some of them are managing the issue of wildfires so well within their immediate localities,” she said.

“It's pointless to have all 35 villages phoning EMA; it overwhelms us. But if every village has its own system of managing fires, then at that local level we are able to do the work.” Zimbabwe has experienced repeated destruction from veld fires, particularly during the dry season, with fires threatening commercial farms, plantations, wildlife habitats, homes and infrastructure. EMA has previously urged communities to avoid uncontrolled burning and to establish fireguards and other preventative measures before the onset of the peak fire period.

Sidange said effective wildfire management ultimately depended on communities understanding that prevention was more effective than responding after flames had spread. “I'm not talking about money; I'm talking about investing in the capacity of local people, giving them the knowledge and driving the mindset that says, for as long as we don't start the fires, we will definitely win against these fires,” she said.

With satellite technology providing authorities with increasingly detailed information about vegetation and active fires, EMA is seeking to combine modern monitoring systems with community-level prevention to reduce the human and economic cost of Zimbabwe's annual wildfire season.

Zimbabwe wildfires