Indonesia Battles Worsening Wildfires as Borneo Braces for Drier Months
Indonesia is battling a growing wildfire crisis in parts of Borneo, with officials and experts warning that conditions could deteriorate further as the dry season intensifies.
Nearly 95,000 hectares of land across Indonesia were burned in July alone, according to government figures released this week. Dry conditions associated with a strong El Niño weather pattern have fuelled fires and left parts of Central Kalimantan blanketed in thick smoke.
Palangkaraya, the provincial capital, has been among the areas affected by the haze.
Forestry ministry official Yudho Shekti Mustiko said firefighting teams were under intense pressure, with all 767 ministry personnel in Borneo deployed to respond to fires.
“It is tough,” Yudho said, adding that there were currently no officials available to remain on standby in their offices.
More than 200,000 hectares have reportedly burned across Indonesia since the beginning of the year. That is roughly three times the area of Jakarta, but officials say the peak of the fire season is still ahead.
“We have to maintain our stamina. September, October will be very dry,” Yudho said.
Fires Already Exceed Recent El Niño Years
The area burned so far this year has already surpassed the totals recorded during the El Niño seasons of 2019 and 2023. However, it remains below the devastating scale of the 2015 fires, when millions of hectares were destroyed and smoke from the blazes triggered a major regional haze crisis.
Experts say weather conditions are not the only factor behind the fires. Decades of deforestation and land degradation have left large areas more vulnerable to burning.
David Gaveau, founder of deforestation monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, said decades of forest loss had transformed large parts of the landscape into highly flammable areas.
“The scale of the fires burning today is also the legacy of four decades of deforestation, which has turned vast landscapes into degraded tinderboxes,” Gaveau said.
He added that rainfall was ultimately needed to bring the fires under control, but significant rain may not arrive until November.
With September and October expected to remain particularly dry, Indonesia is preparing for the wildfire situation to worsen before conditions begin to improve.
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