Indonesians Rainforest Fires Surge, Stoking Global Warming Fears

Fires in Indonesia’s rainforests have jumped sharply, satellite data show, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about how the rise in wildfire outbreaks worldwide is affecting global warming.

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

Indonesia’s outbreak is just the latest — huge blazes have torn through the Amazon rainforest in South America while fires are sweeping across eastern Australia in an unusually ferocious and early start to the continent’s wildfire season.

Indonesia’s forest fires are an annual problem that has been worsened this year by particularly dry weather. In recent days the fires have sent toxic smog floating over Malaysia, triggering a diplomatic row.

According to the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency, more than 285,000ha of land have been burned since the dry season began in June.

On Friday morning, a total of 3,673 hotspots were detected across three provinces in Sumatra and three provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo, compared to 1,092 hotspots detected in mid-August.

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