Indonesia is confronting a wildfire crisis that rivals the nation’s worst year in 2015. The current super El Niño – a particularly strong version of the climate pattern that brings extreme dryness – has driven peatland fires across Sumatra and Borneo, scorching over 200,000 hectares so far and threatening to continue into October and November.
Scale of the disaster
Satellite data from the Indonesian meteorology agency (BKMG) shows more than 23,000 fire hotspots detected in the past eight months. A BKMG spokesperson noted that “2026 is already surpassing 2015 in terms of fire activity.” The 2015 super El Niño fires burned roughly 2.6 million hectares – an area about the size of Massachusetts – cost up to $28 billion, and may have caused 100,000 premature deaths across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Health impacts and regional spread
Thick smoke has forced flight delays, park closures and the shutdown of thousands of schools. Indonesia’s Health Ministry links more than 50,000 respiratory infections to the fires. The haze has drifted into Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore; Malaysia’s health ministry reports a 259 % rise in asthma cases.
Why peatland burns are especially dangerous
Peatlands store ancient carbon beneath water‑logged soils. When drained or degraded, they become a “vast reservoir of ready fuel,” explained Professor Guillermo Rein of Imperial College London. Burning peat releases massive amounts of carbon and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which penetrates deep into lungs and can cause heart and breathing problems.
Peat fires also persist for weeks, often smoldering underground as “zombie fires” that reignite when conditions stay dry, according to Professor Dominick Spracklen of the University of Leeds.
Human factors and corporate responsibility
Large swaths of Indonesia’s peatland have been cleared for commercial plantations, especially oil‑palm production. Forest campaigner Belgis Habiba of Greenpeace Indonesia warned that draining these lands turns a previously fire‑resistant landscape into a “ticking carbon time bomb.” Human activity – such as burning land to prepare it for agriculture – frequently ignites the fires, with El Niño simply amplifying the blaze.
Government and scientific response
Indonesia has deployed more than 50 aircraft for cloud‑seeding and water‑bombing operations, a strategy aimed at artificially inducing rain. Researchers from the Center for International Forestry Research acknowledge the seriousness of the El Niño but note that Indonesia has learned important lessons and improved prevention, monitoring and response measures.
Nevertheless, experts caution that the rainy season may be the only reliable way to halt the fires, and that season could be weeks away.
Global climate implications
Copernicus, the European Union’s climate service, recorded that Indonesia’s fire emissions in August were the highest in the past 24 years. In the last three weeks, the fires released nearly 49 million tons of carbon – more than the same period in 2015. Scientists warn that these emissions exacerbate global warming, which in turn can increase the frequency and severity of future droughts and fires.
While the situation remains dire, the combined efforts of government agencies, international researchers and local NGOs aim to curb the spread and protect both human health and the world’s vital peatland ecosystems.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
