Interannual Changes of Fire Activity in the Protected Areas of the SUN Network and Other Parks and Reserves of the West and Central Africa Region Derived from MODIS Observations

Time series of fire occurrence, derived from MODIS data, have been used to characterise the spatio-temporal distribution of fire events during the 2004–2009 period in 17 protected areas (PAs) of West and Central Africa, with particular attention to those of the SUN network in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. The temporal distribution of the fire activity and the number of fire occurences are quite different inside the PAs and in their surrounding area. A progressive increase of the length of the burning season is observed in the West Africa PAs. Quantitatively, the general trend over the last five years is an increase of the fire density (+22%) inside the PAs and a decrease (−27%) outside. The results indicate that the capacity of the PAs to maintain the biological diversity of the region is probably decreasing due to the combined effects of the anthropic pressure inside the PAs and of an on-going isolation process.