Short name of the example (new item) - INSAM

Short name of the example (new item)
Agrometeorological information for the prevention of forest and wildland fires in Villa Clara.
A. Country/Province where the example was found.
CUBA, Villa Clara, Santa Clara.
B. Institute providing the example (with address).
Agrometeorology section, Scientific Group, Meteorological Center of Villa Clara
Postal address: Marta Abreu 59, e/ Juan Bruno Zayas y Villuendas, Santa Clara, Villa Clara. CUBA.
CP: 50100.
In collaboration with Villa Clara Forest Services.
C. Researcher(s) that collected/described this example (with their e-mail
addresses).
M. Sc. Ismabel María Domínguez Hurtado. E – mail: ismabel.dominguez@vcl.insmet.cu,,
ismabelmaria@yahoo.com
D.
Field(s) of Agrometeorology to which this example belongs.
[Use the fields of interest defined for registration of members of INSAM.]
Forest Fires (FF) with aspects of:
Agrometeorological Services (AS),
Agrometeorological Indicators (AI),
Weather Forecasting (for Agric.) (WF)
DRought (DR)
Ecosystems and Natural vegetation (EN).
E. Natural disaster(s) and/or environmental problems to which the example
is related.
Forest and wildland fires, drougth, pollution.
F. Way, in which the example was found, defined and collected.
From the operational services by the agrometeorological section – Scientific Group –
of Meteorological Center of Villa Clara in collaboration with local agrometeorological
stations.
G. Farming system(s) in which the agrometeorological service is applied or
to which the agrometeorological information is provided for actual use.
Plantation forestry and natural formations (for example, cuabales and charrascales).
Extensive rainfed plantations of sugar cane (Saccharum spp.), grassland.
H. Regions of the county (or counties) where the example can be found.
The example can be found in agricultural areas of the central region of the Cuba
archipelago, at provinces of Villa Clara.
I.
Villages where the example can be found.
The whole area (municipalities) in Villa Clara
J.
Description of the good example of operational agrometeorological
services (maximum of one page A-4), with emphasis on
agrometeorological components of the problem(s) concerned.
See Annex 1
K. Success and advantages of the example as judged by farmers
concerned, where possible also expressed as estimated increase in
income due to the services or information.
It achieved a more efficient allocation of resources for fighting forest fires, as well as
the location of the same in the areas of greatest risk, with consequent reductions in
economic and environmental losses.
From the point of view of farmers, the service has helped to improve the
management of resources and preparation prior to the season of greatest risk of
fires.
L. Difficulties encountered in introduction and use of this good example of
agrometeorological services or information.
Difficulties in telecommunications with Villa Clara Forest Services, mainly caused by
the constraints in the availability of technical resources.
Low availability of personnel dedicated to fires surveillance in the areas of difficult
access, which leads to limitations in detecting outbreaks.
Difficult access to some areas with fire hazard.
M. Difficulties of the service or information as seen by the farmers
concerned.
Difficulties in the transmission of forecast (short term), especially in mountainous
areas, where communications are difficult because of limitations on connectivity and
connectivity.
N. Improvements envisaged or wanted/proposed in the service or
information by the farmers, and the feasibility of such improvements.
The results expected from one of the research projects underway, developed by the
Provincial Meteorological Center in Villa Clara are supposed to expand the service.
In this case completed with similar information regarding agricultural drought (more
information can be found in section R of this protocol).
In addition, the methodology aims to provide forecasting air quality, essentially taking
into account pollution caused by emission products of forest fires.
O. Chances of expanding the application of the improved example.
There is ample scope for extension and generalization of our experience. In fact, in
all comparable locations the system can be used. The main constraint is the
availability and representativeness of meteorological data.
Consideration should be given to the widespread service, the validity of the indices
used. Basically, Nesterov has been a successful rate, but requires a pilot study for
the introduction of this.
P.
Related examples found elsewhere in the Country (or Countries for that
matter).
In many countries there are experiences in monitoring forest fires through the use of
index-based meteorological risk variables (ecology-fire), but many of them operate at
the national level, not locally. In our country there are other provinces that have
agrometeorological information systems for the prevention of forest fires, but do not
have a design similar to our proposal. We do not have information on the use of
similar forms of warning and diffusion of agrometeorological information through the
channels described.
Q. Do any research results exist on this service/information or on the
agrometeorology from which it was derived?
Yes. Results described are part of a territorial research and development project (R
& D) financing for the environmental agenda of the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment (CITMA, in Spanish) of the Republic of Cuba.
The experiences of this research were accepted:
•
V International Conference on Development and the Environment (I International
Symposium on Watershed Management), Ciudad de La Habana.
•
XV International Congress of Meteorology (Iberian and Latin American
Federation of Societies of Meteorology, Mexico (FLISMET, by its abbreviations in
Spanish)), Mexico.
•
International Congress on Disaster, Ciudad de La Habana.
In addition, some results were part of a thesis option Masters degree in Forestry
Science of a specialist of Villa Clara Forest Services.
Also, the experiences have been published in:
•
Proposal of a daily meteorological index of forest fire danger for the municipality
Santa Clara. Memories IV Forestry Congress (CUBA). May 14 -17, 2007. ISBN:
978 - 959 - 282 - 048 – 7.
•
Proposal of a daily meteorological index of danger to elevate the effectiveness of
the prevention and extinction of forest fires in Santa Clara. Revista Forestal
Baracoa. 2006. 25(2), pages 25 – 33. ISSN: 0138-6441.
R. Could research assist in improvement of the service/information and
how?
Yes, of course. As is known, drought (meteorological, agricultural) has a close
connection with the occurrence and extent of forest fires. Therefore, we plan
incorporating other indices, associated with drought, to improve the effectiveness of
agrometeorological forecasting of hazardous conditions.
At the moment just two projects were approved that contribute directly to the
improvement of service. The first is on technological development ("Renewing and
strengthening of the agrometeorological network in Villa Clara") (2008 - 2013)
financed by the territorial program of the the provincial delegation of the Ministry of
Science, Technology and Environment in Villa Clara. This aims to reduce the scale
of work by the inclusion of "volunteers", previously trained; together with data from
two new automatic stations (including new variables such as radiation). The second
project, in this case financed by the National Fund Environment of the Republic of
Cuba, is one through which the Forest Service headquarters in Villa Clara refines the
monitoring strategy at the local level.
Moreover, the service is part of strategic actions to the implementation of the
Operative Programm - 15 "Sustainable Land´s Management" in Guamuhaya bulk,
with a view to reconcile the commitments made by the country with the GEF/UNDP
and the interests of Programs National Development, Management and
Environmental Protection.
S. Any other comments from the collectors of this example that can help in
understanding the many aspects of such services/provision of
information.
Undoubtedly, the agrometeorological service is a basic tool for combating forest
fires, but only through a comprehensive assessment of the problem and using the
experience of previous campaigns has been possible to determine a more fectiva
the location of the areas of greatest risk occurring, thereby reducing the threat of
these natural phenomena by appropriate action.
The agrometeorological information to combat forest fires has become an
indispensable tool for the work of the Forest Service in Villa Clara. This service has
helped establish very close working ties with the institution responsible for the
protection of forest. But it has also been extended to the government units
responsible for environmental management, specifically those responsible for the
conservation of protected areas in the province, watershed management and
reforestation.
END OF THE PROTOCOL TO BE FILLED.
ANNEX 1 AT THE FOLLOWING PAGE.
Annex 1
The most recent data show that as of May 2005, the largest number of fires occurred in
the central region of the territory. Particularly, Villa Clara had the highest number of acres
planted in areas affected. This contribution, framed within the territorial project CITMA
0615, drew three specific objectives: (i) to characterize the behavior of forest fires in the
province, (ii) applying an index of risk adjusted to the characteristics of the area and (iii)
propose a methodology for forecasting wildfires in Villa Clara.
The characterization of fires took place in the province, using information provided by the
Villa Clara Forest Services. We selected the following variables: time of occurrence of fire,
start and detection time, municipality, city, causes (classified as negligence, intentional or
unknown; specifying - where possible - origin of those fires - meteorological drought,
thunderstorm, other probability), the affected area (ha), combustible material (category
herbaceous extract, tree extract), type of fire (in category cup, surface, underground or
combination of categories), affected species (common and scientific name), age of
plantations affected and economic losses estimated.
The approach related data thus obtained with meteorological variables from the weather
stations of Provincial Meteorological Center in Villa Clara, Institute of Meteorology. Three
indexes were tested: Nesterov (index modified by the Institute of Forest Investigations of
Cuba in 1994), Ångstrom and Monte Alegre index, also known as index Osares. The latter
was developed for wet ecosystems of south-eastern Brazil, but is currently being applied
in some provinces in northern and northeastern Argentina. In the specific case of the
capital, Santa Clara, three methods were compared: Nesterov I, Nesterov II and Monte
Alegre formula.
A table was designed initially supported in Microsoft ® Excel, for the computation of the
danger, which was replaced by a program in C + + to facilitate operations. From the
information obtained in conjunction with the Villa Clara Forest Services we designed a
scheme to facilitate the flow of information between the two institutions.
The procedures described above are carried out both in the meteorological stations in the
provincial office. Then processed as a service agrometeorological, supplemented with
information from the drought and weather forecast and is transmitted from de
Meteorological Center (automatically, and in some cases, by phone) to the command post
Forest Services in Villa Clara, agricultural enterprises, insurances sectors and government
authorities. In order to strengthen the surveillance system at the local level, the weather
stations can provide this service to the units closest to eventually request.
Validation and effectiveness of the service is evaluated in partnership between forest
authorities and the Meteorological Centre. This is considered the number of fires detected
during the season and agrometeorological conditions provided.
It was noted that the characteristics of forest fires in Villa Clara did not differ significantly
from the rest of the country, in addition to corroborating that the influence of extreme
temperatures, relative humidity and rainfall accumulated at the beginning of the fires is
crucial for their development.