Indonesia battles wildfires as officials warn of worse fires ahead

Smog is blanketing parts of Indonesia’s Borneo as widespread fires burn across rainforests and plantations, with officials and experts warning that the worst of the fire season may still be ahead.

Nearly 95,000 hectares of land across Indonesia were burned in July alone, according to government data released this week. Authorities say dry conditions linked to a powerful El Nino weather pattern have fuelled the fires, sending thick smoke over areas including Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan.

Forestry ministry official Yudho Shekti Mustiko said hundreds of personnel had been deployed across Borneo to tackle the blazes.

“It is tough,” Yudho said, noting that all 767 forestry officials under his command in Borneo were engaged in firefighting efforts, leaving no personnel on standby at their offices.

More than 200,000 hectares have burned across Indonesia since the beginning of the year, the government said. The area is roughly three times the size of Jakarta.

However, the peak of the dry season is yet to arrive.

“We have to maintain our stamina, September, October will be very dry,” Yudho said.

The area affected so far has already surpassed the levels recorded during the previous El Nino years of 2019 and 2023. However, it remains below the devastation seen in 2015, when exceptionally severe fires burned millions of hectares and triggered a major regional haze crisis.

Experts say Indonesia’s recurring fires are also being worsened by decades of environmental degradation and deforestation.

“The scale of the fires burning today is also the legacy of four decades of deforestation, which has turned vast landscapes into degraded tinderboxes,” said David Gaveau, founder of deforestation monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas.

Gaveau said rainfall was ultimately needed to extinguish the fires but warned that significant rain was unlikely before November.

The worsening fires have raised concerns over air quality, public health and the potential return of the cross-border haze that has repeatedly affected Indonesia and neighbouring countries during severe fire seasons.