Indonesia and part of Asia are facing a major environmental disaster. Since this summer, fires of exceptional scale have ravaged the forests of the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Papua and even Java. Four men died Thursday fighting flames in a national park in Java, according to the Indonesian Forestry Ministry. Nearly 60,000 agents and firefighters are mobilized, but persistent drought and violent winds complicate operations. The Specialized Meteorological Center of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) triggered its maximum alert level for air quality in the region on Friday, October 16.
Alarming air pollution
In the affected regions, the smoke obscures the sky, tinted orange, and sometimes reduces visibility to a few dozen meters. More than 280,000 people suffer from respiratory problems linked to pollution, according to a report released Wednesday by the local Ministry of Health.
Hospitals are recording an increase in consultations. “We have seen an increase in the number of adults and elderly people who come for consultations. These are patients who present symptoms of cough and cold,” explains Irvan Maulana, doctor in a hospital on the island of Borneo, on France 2. Many schools and public infrastructures have had to close.
The crisis extends beyond Indonesian borders. Carried by the winds, the smoke affects several neighboring countries. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia are among the most polluted cities in the world, according to air quality monitoring site IQAir.
Another consequence of the forest fires is that around 2,400 flights across the country have been affected by toxic fumes since mid-August, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Transport.
The blaze fueled by El Niño
If fires are frequent during the dry season, between April and October, their intensity can be explained in particular by two factors. The El Niño phenomenon accentuates droughts and dries out the soil, which makes vegetation more flammable. Because of El Niño, "the sea surface temperature is colder than normal," Wang Jingyu, an atmospheric science expert based in Singapore, told AFP. "Under these conditions, (...) we don't have enough evaporation coming from the ocean." With a terrible consequence: “We don't have enough rain, the fire cannot be easily put out,” he summarizes.
At the same time, human practices are making the situation worse, such as slash-and-burn clearing, which consists of creating agricultural land and oil palm plantations illegally. Indonesian police announced at the end of August the arrest of 72 people suspected of having deliberately started fires to clear land.
Since the start of the year, more than 900,000 hectares of forests and peatlands have gone up in smoke. The latter, however, store significant quantities of carbon. Their combustion releases greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming.
Devastated ecosystems
Biodiversity is also threatened. The habitats of many species, notably orangutans, are destroyed, recalls the media Vakita. Surviving animals risk running out of food and moving closer to populated areas. “From August 6 to October 10, a joint team evacuated 51 orangutans from several sites... in West Kalimantan [on the island of Borneo] as fires increasingly affected their habitat,” the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the Indonesian environmental protection organization YIARI reported in a statement.
A vicious circle threatens to set in: fires aggravate climate change, which in turn promotes droughts and new fires. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto promised on Wednesday to strengthen the means of combat. However, some experts like Sophie Boisseau du Rocher, former associate researcher at the Asia Center of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), interviewed by RFI, believe that the response remains insufficient given the scale of the disaster. Indonesia has accepted international aid offered by neighboring countries, paving the way for enhanced regional cooperation. All of South-East Asia is now hoping for the arrival of the rainy season, the delay of which prolongs the crisis.
