TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Indonesia forest fires surge, stoking global warming fears

Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands of security forces to tackle them.

Dessy Sagita (Agence France-Presse)
Pekanbaru, Riau
Thu, September 12, 2019

Share This Article

Change Size

 Indonesia forest fires surge, stoking global warming fears This picture taken on August 10, 2019 shows Indonesian firefighters battling a fire at a peatland forest in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, due to the dry season which had worsened in recent weeks. - Indonesian authorities are deploying thousands of extra personnel to prevent a repeat of the 2015 fires, which were the worst for two decades and choked the region in haze for weeks. (AFP/Abdul Qodir)

T

he number of blazes in Indonesia's rainforests has jumped sharply, satellite data showed Thursday, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming.

Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands of security forces to tackle them.

It is just the latest such outbreak worldwide -- huge blazes have torn through the Amazon in South America while bushfires are sweeping across eastern Australia in an unusually ferocious and early start to the wildfire season.

Indonesia's forest fires are an annual problem but have been worsened this year by particularly dry weather, and in recent days sent toxic smog floating over Malaysia and triggered a diplomatic row.

The number of "hotspots" -- areas of intense heat detected by satellite which indicate a high chance of fire -- jumped sharply in Indonesia on Wednesday, according to the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre.

There were 1,619 hotspots detected on the Indonesian part of Kalimantan and Sumatra up from 861 a day earlier, according to a tally from the centre, which monitors forest fires and smog outbreaks.

Kiki Taufik, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace in Indonesia, told AFP there has been little rain in the past fortnight, particularly on Kalimantan which saw the sharpest increase in hotspots.

Kalimantan is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

- Burning issue -

Taufik saw similarities between the blazes in Indonesia and those in the Amazon, where farmers also start fires to clear land for agriculture. 

"This should remind people we are facing a climate crisis," he said of the recent fires around the world.

"Industries are looking to expand plantations using fires." 

And he warned Indonesia's fires would add to the sprawling archipelago's climate-damaging emissions, already among the highest in the world.

In 2015 Indonesia suffered its worst forest fires for almost two decades, which dramatically increased its greenhouse gas emissions.

Diplomatic tensions were also rising as Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin accused her Indonesian counterpart of being "in denial", after Jakarta insisted fires in Malaysia had caused the smog there.

"Let the data speak for itself," she said in a Facebook post, indicating figures from the ASEAN centre which showed only a handful of hotspots in Malaysia compared to the hundreds in Indonesia.

Indonesian Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar hit back Wednesday, telling AFP that "hotspots are not only found in Indonesia, but also in Sarawak (on Malaysian Borneo) and peninsular Malaysia".

"We are not standing idly by," she added.

Indonesian security forces have been struggling to tame the blazes as many burn underground in carbon-rich peat, which has been cleared across vast areas of Indonesia for plantations. 

After being cleared and drained of water, peat is highly combustible and hard to extinguish once ablaze.

There have been some outbreaks of fire in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Drone footage taken by AFP in the area showed smoke rising from charcoal grey patches of smouldering earth, surrounded by pristine forest.

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.