‘The toll is huge’: El Niño-driven wildfires overwhelm Indonesia’s orangutan population
El Niño-driven wildfires in Indonesia are causing widespread devastation, overwhelming the country's orangutan population and destroying their habitat. The article highlights the rescue of a mother and baby orangutan, the role of land clearing for palm oil plantations in exacerbating the fires, and calls for urgent international assistance to mitigate the crisis.
Why it matters
These fires represent a significant ecological disaster, threatening critically endangered species like orangutans and contributing to global climate change through peatland burning, with long-term environmental and biodiversity consequences.
Abu, the eight-month-old baby of Mama Abu, who are being monitored after they were trapped by smoke from forest and land fires in a palm oil plantation area in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photograph: Muffidz Ma'sum/Yiari-Ministry of Forestry Abu, the eight-month-old baby of Mama Abu, who are being monitored after they were trapped by smoke from forest and land fires in a palm oil plantation area in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photograph: Muffidz Ma'sum/Yiari-Ministry of Forestry The age of extinction Indonesia ‘The toll is huge’: El Niño-driven wildfires overwhelm Indonesia’s orangutan population The global climate phenomenon has triggered devastating infernos in the ape’s Indonesian heartlands, with long-term effects on the animals still unknown
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