| dc.description.abstract | Forest fires are the main reason for changes in the structure of the forest coverage.
According to the records of the Forest Department, Sri Lanka, as a percentage, more
than half of forest fires were recorded in Badulla District. Badulla district is
vulnerable to forest fires every year. It is one of the major natural disasters in Badulla
district. It is not possible to control nature and natural disasters but possible to map
forest fires and reduce their vulnerability. The identified problem of the study is, not
having a proper forest fire risk zonation map for Badulla district, Sri Lanka. The main
objective of the study is to analyse forest fire vulnerability and prepare a forest fire
risk zonation map for the Badulla district. The study is based on Remote Sensing and
GIS data. Those are the best methods for forest fire mapping beyond traditional
methods.
Traditional approaches make it challenging to map the intensity of fires. Topography,
Land cover classes, and anthropological activities were taken as the variables of the
study. Accordingly, the forest fire index was developed and given the ranks to
variables variated from high to low. Further, a Forest fire risk zonation map was
prepared and finally, a model was validated by calculating the RMSE value. | en_US |
