Monitoring Wildfires in Forest and Grassland Related to Sugarcane Burning with Geotechnologies

Sugarcane is an important agro-industrial crop for the production of food, biofuels and bioproducts. However, the agricultural management of this crop generates significant socioeconomic and environmental impacts. The burning of sugarcane-cultivated fields, a practice used to facilitate planting and harvesting, is used extensively in Mexico and other sugarcane-producing countries but causes nitrogen volatilization, a decrease in microorganisms and organic material in the soils, and increased wildfires in forest ecosystems and respiratory health problems in surrounding areas. Academic evidence has shown that sugarcane harvesting with biomass burning is associated with the generation of GHGs and an increase in extreme weather conditions, such as rising temperatures and more frequent and prolonged droughts. These effects, in turn, have modified the structure of vegetation communities and ecosystems, as well as affected carbon and water cycles and the regional climate system and therefore the productivity and profitability of crops. The objective of this work was to determine the distribution patterns of wildfires and their impact on forest and rainforest areas near sugarcane crops in the Huasteca Potosina region, Mexico, during the period 2010–2020, using high and low spatial resolution satellite images. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) MCD64A1 satellite images were used to evaluate sugarcane-burnt areas impacted by drought to assess thermal anomalies, whereas Landsat 8 OLI images were used to calculate and monitor burned areas, both in sugarcane crops and in perimeter forests and rainforests. The products generated will serve to demonstrate the impact of sugarcane burning and help establish proposals for agroforestry sustainability to prevent, monitor, control and manage future wildfires.