Asia

Indonesia's worst fire season in over a decade blankets Southeast Asia in toxic haze

Slash-and-burn clearing for palm oil closes schools across borders and pushes Singapore air to its worst since 2015, Prabowo resists disaster declaration while rescuers carry 53 orangutans from burning forest

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Indonesia wildfires cause widespread smog to fall over Kalimantan province Indonesia wildfires cause widespread smog to fall over Kalimantan province nbcnews.com
A thick haze of yellow smogs falls over a family outside their home in central Kalimantan province on Oct. 23.Reina / AFP via Getty A thick haze of yellow smogs falls over a family outside their home in central Kalimantan province on Oct. 23.Reina / AFP via Getty nbcnews.com
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Smog from Indonesian wildfires blankets Singapore on Oct. 18.Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty Smog from Indonesian wildfires blankets Singapore on Oct. 18.Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty nbcnews.com
A firefighter receives oxygen reliefwhile battling forest and land fires in Kalimantan province, Indonesia on Oct. 22.Reina / AFP via Getty A firefighter receives oxygen reliefwhile battling forest and land fires in Kalimantan province, Indonesia on Oct. 22.Reina / AFP via Getty nbcnews.com
An animal keeper feeds fruit to an orangutan inside an “island cage,” a semi-natural facility designed to mimic its wild habitat, run by the wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), as smoke haze from wildfires shrouds the surrounding forest in Ketapang, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Sept. 19, 2026. | Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. An animal keeper feeds fruit to an orangutan inside an “island cage,” a semi-natural facility designed to mimic its wild habitat, run by the wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), as smoke haze from wildfires shrouds the surrounding forest in Ketapang, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Sept. 19, 2026. | Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. scroll.in
Veterinarian Komara, right, from Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), along with other veterinarians, treats a female orangutan and her baby after being rescued from a burned forest and peatland area in Pelang village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sept. 18, 2026. Bornean orangutans are one of three orangutan species in the world, and the only one found on the island of Borneo. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. Veterinarian Komara, right, from Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), along with other veterinarians, treats a female orangutan and her baby after being rescued from a burned forest and peatland area in Pelang village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sept. 18, 2026. Bornean orangutans are one of three orangutan species in the world, and the only one found on the island of Borneo. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. scroll.in
A fire burns at a palm oil plantation in Sungai Putri village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Aug. 19, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. A fire burns at a palm oil plantation in Sungai Putri village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Aug. 19, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. scroll.in
Smog from massive forest and peatland fires blankets a rural area in Tanjungpura village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Aug. 18, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. Smog from massive forest and peatland fires blankets a rural area in Tanjungpura village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, Aug. 18, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. scroll.in
Veterinarian Mar’atul Halim Nafi’ah carries an air rifle to sedate a mother orangutan and her baby during a rescue from a burned forest and peatland area in Pelang village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sept. 18, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. Veterinarian Mar’atul Halim Nafi’ah carries an air rifle to sedate a mother orangutan and her baby during a rescue from a burned forest and peatland area in Pelang village, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sept. 18, 2026. Image by Garry Lotulung for Mongabay. scroll.in

Since July, fires lit to clear Indonesia's forests and peatlands have sent smoke across Southeast Asia in the archipelago's worst fire season in over a decade, with El Niño drought turning the annual burning into a regional emergency. On Wednesday, hundreds of students and civil-society demonstrators marched in Jakarta and other cities against President Prabowo Subianto's refusal to declare the fires a national disaster. In West Kalimantan province alone, 48,536 hectares have burned this year — an area roughly the size of Vienna.

The fires are not weather. They are land preparation. Family farms and commercial plantations clear ground by slash-and-burn because burning costs a fraction of mechanical clearing, and the bill lands on people who never see the profit: schools closed in several countries, respiratory illness spiking among the millions exposed since July, and Singapore's air at its worst level since 2015. In central Kalimantan, schoolteacher Natanael Undas keeps his windows shut around the clock; the smoke still gets in, his two-year-old daughter sneezes constantly, and the sky, he told NBC News, "looks like Mars."

The blame circulates. Indonesia's environment group Walhi named 66 companies with links to Singapore and 27 with links to Malaysia near fire hot spots. Police have identified 20 suspect corporations, four of them registered in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea; Malaysia denies any of its companies are involved, and Singapore's government did not respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday the two foreign ministers discussed a joint task force against illegal burning, with Indonesia's Arrmanatha Nasir promising "the full force of the law" so that "those who profit from fire must answer for the fires."

On the ground, the work falls on whoever shows up. Between August 1 and October 21, the West Kalimantan conservation agency and the wildlife foundation YIARI rescued 53 Bornean orangutans from burning forest; many arrived thin and covered in injuries, and as fire approaches, the apes' instincts push them higher and farther from the people trying to sedate them, creating serious risks when the animal falls. A 38-person firefighting crew hauls hoses up to 100 meters long through forest in extreme heat; at night, a thermal drone maps the peat fires burning underground.

The government says it recognizes the students' concerns, is prosecuting companies linked to the fires and is sending aid to affected provinces. The haze has meanwhile obscured Singapore's skyline during its Formula One night race and is advancing on the 67,000-year-old cave paintings of Sulawesi, the oldest in the world.