With a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population of about two million people, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. Novi Sad, its administrative centre, is the second largest city in the country.

While Novi Sad is heading towards recognition as a regional leader in the IT industry, Vojvodina’s economy mainly relies on agriculture and agribusiness.

The challenge

The Vojvodina Province is particularly affected by the phenomenon of stubble burning, a common practice in cultivated fields in Serbia, which threatens the health and safety of the territory.

In 2019, around 19.000 open fires were recorded in Serbia. 14 people died because of them and 40 were injured. The fires burned low vegetation, but also damaged forests, meadows, orchards, cereals, and vineyards.

To discourage farmers from burning the remains of their crops, the province’s public authorities need precise and reliable information on the location of this practice.

The satellite solution

With the support of the BıoSense Instıtute, UNDP Serbia created a web GIS portal to detect open fıres usıng data from Sentınel-2 satellites.

By comparing two consecutive images, one before the fire occurrence and the other after the fire, an algorithm detects the areas where fires happened and the potentially burned areas. These spots are visualised on an interactive web map that is made openly and freely available to the public: the Portal for Mapping Harvest Residues (www.dim.rs/#/dashboard).

The map was funded by UNDP Serbia through the “Challenge call for innovative solutions to reduce air pollution in Serbia and improve air quality”.

The results

The portal is used by the UNDP, research institutes and local administrations to raise the awareness of people, farmers in the first place, about the threats posed by stubble burning. Moreover, the portal allows the government to detect stubble burning and to undertake evidence-based actions against this practice.

In the Vojvodina Province, the methodology used to develop the portal was tested during three months (from September to November 2020), spotting over 9.000 parcels that were subject to crop residue burning.

On dim.rs, fires are classified according to the dates on which they occurred and cadastral information. The webGIS portal also contains statistics on fire occurrence history that is available for download, and information for citizens on how to report illegal burnings.

Users can know which areas are the most affected by crop residue burning and in which periods of the year. Altogether, this information enables local administrations (such as police forces, firefighters and forest authorities, among others) to be better prepared to the occurrence of stubble burning, to target awareness raising campaigns, to better plan in-situ inspections, and to sustain law enforcement.

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Castilla–La Mancha is a Spanish autonomous community located in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula’s Inner Plateau. The community occupies an area of 79,463 km2, including over 3.5 million hectares of forests, which represent 13% of the whole Spanish forests.

INFOCAM, integrated in the Regional Department of Sustainable Development, leads the integral management of forest fires in Castilla-la Mancha. INFOCAM performs its tasks in coordination with all the departments of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, with local and provincial entities, and with the companies and private owners that are involved in sustainable rural development.

The Analysis and Planning Unit (UNAP) of INFOCAM issues periodical forest fire risk reports, that are used to enforce preparedness and response to forest fires.

The challenge

In the summer of 2021, major forest fires led to both ecological and economic losses in Spain. Of all Spain’s regions, Castilla-La Mancha is the one with the most municipalities in high fire-risk areas, with a total of 780.

To limit the damage of fires on forests and take better preventive measures to avoid them, INFOCAM needs to monitor the conditions of the vegetation, as vegetation stress makes it prone to combustion, due to drought and high temperatures in summer or freeze in winter.

The satellite solution

Copernicus provides data on vegetation related to phenology, photosynthesis activity, and vegetation stress.

INFOCAM uses data from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites to estimate the density of green in the region and the amount of green and alive elements of the vegetation. This information is important to know the amount of vegetation that could be available for potential fires and is crucial to reduce uncertainty, especially with regard to emergency preparedness.

The results

The maps and the data concerning the forest fire risks are provided to the stakeholders through a web-GIS (Geographic Information System) and daily reports that are distributed to the entities in charge of managing forests and fire risks.

Remote sensing data provided by Copernicus represent a crucial tool to support fire services before the fire season starts and enable them to activate resources and procedures.

During emergencies, when fires are being managed, the satellites provide fire managers with information about the spatial distribution of the fire risk that is useful to design operational plans for fire extinction.

Based on the information on the fire risks contained in the maps, the region can increase or move resources (e.g., helicopters, fire engines and fire brigades) from prevention tasks to firefighting tasks in time.

Moreover, combined with wind and meteorological data, the maps allow for the forecasting of fire spreads into nearby areas.

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