How haze from Indonesian fires impacts Southeast Asia
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- Fires across Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra have produced thick haze, worsening respiratory problems and forcing some schools to close.
- Smoke has drifted into Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, while nearly 300,000 hectares have burned this year, according to an independent estimate.
- Drier conditions linked to El Nino and slash-and-burn land clearing have contributed to the fires, many of which are burning on difficult-to-extinguish peatlands.
Thick smog has blanketed parts of Indonesia for weeks as firefighters battle fires across Borneo and Sumatra. The smoke has increased respiratory problems, forced schools to close and drifted into neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Most of the fires are concentrated on Borneo, which Indonesia shares with Brunei and Malaysia, and on Sumatra. Nearly 300,000 hectares have burned in Indonesia so far this year, according to an independent estimate from the Nusantara Atlas portal.
Indonesia's carbon emissions rose from late July. By the end of August, levels were comparable to those recorded during the strong El Nino years of 2015 and 2019, Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, told AFP.
We're seeing already now... really extreme fire emissions comparable to those previous strong El Nino years, and also the extent of the smoke and the haze and the air quality impacts.
"We're seeing already now... really extreme fire emissions comparable to those previous strong El Nino years, and also the extent of the smoke and the haze and the air quality impacts," Parrington said. CAMS data showed that fires released more than 23 million metric tons of carbon emissions between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3, exceeding the 20.7 million metric tons recorded over the same period in 2015.
Analysts attributed the spread partly to El Nino, which has created drier conditions, but also to slash-and-burn land clearing. "El Nino does not ignite fires. It creates the dry conditions that allow human-started fires to escape and become very large," said David Gaveau, founder of Nusantara Atlas. Peatlands make the fires especially difficult to extinguish because their dried layers of partially decomposed organic material can burn easily. More than 210,000 hotspots were detected in peatland areas between January and August, according to the NGO Pantau Gambut.
El Nino does not ignite fires. It creates the dry conditions that allow human-started fires to escape and become very large.
About this summary
Originally published by The Express Tribune. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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