The role of fire in changing land use and livelihood in Petapahan area, Riau province

This report describes an analysis of the underlying causes of fire in Petapahan, Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The site is located in an expired logging concession and consists mostly of oil palm plantations, industrial timber plantations and transmigration and local community settlements. Socio-economic research and hot-spot analysis suggest that fires used in land clearing for oil palm and timber plantations and the development of transmigration settlements were the most common cause of vegetation fires in the site. The development of timber plantation and oil palm plantation has also created land tenure conflicts between communities and companies. In many cases, tenure conflict often become a trigger for forest and land fire as fire is often used to destabilize livelihoods as a means of forcing the vacation of an area. The nature of partnerships between communities and companies in the development of oil palm and timber plantations is also a very important factor in reducing the incidence of fire as communities with partnerships have a vested interest in protecting their assets.

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