Indonesia faces its most intense wildfire season in 11 years as severe El Nino dries land
Indonesia is experiencing its most intense wildfire season in 11 years, exacerbated by severe El Niño conditions. The fires have caused a massive spike in pollution, with emissions significantly higher than the global average for early September.
Why it matters
The environmental impact of these fires poses severe health risks and highlights the vulnerability of peatlands to climate-driven weather patterns.
That surge in fires drove pollution sharply higher and in the first week of the month made Indonesia the world's biggest source of wildfire emissions.
The South China Morning Post reported that data from Fire Emissions Watch showed that Indonesia released 19.7 million metric tons of pollution from wildfires from Sept. 1 to 7 — more than Russia and over one-third of the global total for those days.
Fire Emissions Watch's online tracker is part of the European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring system.
The same figures put the pollution intensity at over 1,500 kilograms per square kilometer, with the heaviest activity centered in Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo and eastern Sumatra; that rate was over 10 times higher than Russia's, the Morning Post noted.
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