Thick smog from fires in Indonesia has spread across parts of Southeast Asia as the country battles blazes that have burned large areas of Borneo and Sumatra. The hazardous conditions have triggered an increase in respiratory illnesses, forced schools to shut, and drifted into Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Most fires are concentrated on Borneo, which contains vast tropical forest shared between Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Sumatra. Nearly 300,000 hectares of Indonesian land have burned so far this year. Carbon emissions from the fires between late August and early September matched levels seen in previous strong El Nino years such as 2015 and 2019, according to monitoring services.
El Nino weather patterns have created drier conditions that allow fires to spread more easily, but human practices are also responsible. Slash-and-burn land clearing contributes significantly to the damage. Many fires occur on peatlands, wetland areas with partially decomposed organic materials that become highly flammable when dry, making them difficult to extinguish.