Climate change, the prolonged heatwave in central coastal areas are the main causes of forest fires. The pine, melaleuca, bamboo, eucalyptus, and dipterocarp plantations are easily flammable and increase the wildfire risks. These kinds of trees are very common in the central region with a total area of nearly 6 million hectares. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will apply technologies to detect wildfires and prevent them from spreading.
Wildfires destroy forests and biodiversity, pollute the air and impact people’s health, and disrupt electricity service and the economy. We teamed up with an AXIS partner in Vietnam to implement a LookOut wildfire detection pilot in November 2021. We are exploring the use of early wildfire detection technology to mitigate wildfires risks and damages to the electricity infrastructure.