Fires in Kenya
Fires in Kenya
4 January 2008
Fires in Kenya
Land-use fires burning in agricultural lands and wildfires affecting forests, protected areas and settlements are a common phenomenon in the East African environment, including in the territories of Kenya. Sometimes fires are related to political decisions, as was suspected in February 2003 when over 4,000 hectares of Mount Kenya forest burned and affected the fire-sensitive Mount Kenya ecosystems, which contain more than 800 rare plant species, unique to the region. The fire came weeks after the new government of President Mwai Kibaki announced tough measures to stop illegal logging, encroachment of the forest by neighbouring communities, and growing of narcotics inside the forest. Please see links to fire reports from Kenya between 1997 and 2003.
During the current political unrest many fires have been set by purpose, affecting structures but also causing fires in surrounding vegetation. The map below was produced by UNOSAT, on the basis of MODIS sensors on the Aqua and Terra satellites, and provides an overview on the current situation. Please observe the explanations given by UNOSAT.
UNOSAT Map showing fire locations in Kenya between 27 December 2007 and 2 January 2008
(click for high-resolution map, PDF, 3 MB)
This map illustrates the detected active fire locations within the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya following the national elections on 27 December 2007. These fire locations were detected by the MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites covering the time period from 27 December to 2 January 2008. An evaluation has been made of the chronology and spatial context of this data, and it is probable that a majority of detected fires (peaking on 1 January 2008) are directly or indirectly linked to the electoral civil unrest. Please note that this fire data product does not discriminate between normally occurring fires (e.g. slash-and-burn agriculture) and those resulting from arson or conflict, and therefore contains a large degree of uncertainty as to the cause. Also note that this fire product has not recorded all active fires for this area because of limited duration / area affected, and because of gaps in collection on 31 December 2007 and 2 January 2008.
Sources:
Fire Data: MODIS Aqua – Terra
Fire Processing: University of Maryland, NASA
Fire Dates: 27 December 2007 – 2 January 2008
Analysis: UNOSAT
Elevation Data: SRTM-NASA
GIS Data: NGA, USGS, GIST, UNOSAT
Product ID: 1035 – 3 Jan, 2008 – English
GLIDE: CE-2008-000001-KEN
Product FOOTPRINT (LAT x LONG, WSG84 Geographic, decimal degrees)
TopLeft: 1 x 34.5
BottomRight: -0.5 x 36.4
Map Production: UNOSAT (3 January 2008)
Source: http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/asp/prod_free.asp?id=42
See previous reports on fires in Kenya:
Fire and politics in Kenya (2003): https://gfmc.online/media/2003/news_20030228_ken.htm
Fire situation in Kenya (2001): https://gfmc.online/iffn/country/ke/ke_2.htm
Fire research in Kenya (1997-98): https://gfmc.online/iffn/country/ke/ke_1.htm
GFMC photo archive Kenya (1997-98): https://gfmc.online/photos/tz/tz.htm
