Spatial and temporal wildfire variations within the Mid Zambezi protected areas

Wildfires in protected areas are increasingly frequent and are severely putting the world's biodiversity in danger. This study assessed spatial and temporal variations in wildfire occurrence and intensity within the Mid Zambezi protected areas between August 2001 and August 2022 and evaluated the effectiveness of early burning as a fire management strategy. Active fire data were obtained from NASA's Fire Information for Resources Management System (FIRMS), and QGIS software was used to map the fire distribution, frequency and hotspots. The Getis‒Ord Gi* statistic was used to identify hotspots and coldpots, while QGIS was used to generate maps for the visualisation of the resulting spatial patterns. The results indicate pronounced clustering of wildfire hotspots along the highway, indicating anthropogenic influence. Quantitative analysis revealed that early burning affected a mean area of 119 km2, while late season fires burned a substantially larger mean area of 1108 km2. These findings demonstrate that early burning reduces the spatial extent of intense wildfires. This study underscores the need for strengthening early-season fire management, reducing human encroachment and enhancing community awareness to mitigate wildfire risk in the Mid Zambezi protected areas.