Indonesia is battling widespread peatland wildfires fueled by an El Niño and severe drought conditions that have dried up major waterways across Borneo and Sumatra, leaving residents facing drinking water shortages and heavy toxic haze.
Villagers living along Borneo’s tropical lowlands are finding themselves cut off from basic water supplies as months of dry weather take a toll. In Penyeladi village, shopkeeper Sriwati can no longer rely on the river for the rice she cooks to feed her children. Experts note that communities across the island are facing an acute water crisis born from the intersection of an El Niño climate cycle and decades of environmental degradation.
Decades of land conversion have altered the region, particularly through the commercial draining of vulnerable ecosystems. Amanda Hurowitz, a senior director at international environmental organization Mighty Earth, pointed out that something like 60% of the peatland areas have been drained to make way for palm oil plantations and pulp and paper concessions. The resulting network of canals has lowered the water table, causing the moisture to vanish from ancient wetlands that are critical for carbon storage and water regulation.
Fires Challenge Government Containment Efforts in Borneo
The bone-dry conditions have turned drained peatlands into an expansive tinderbox, feeding fires that burn both above ground and deep underneath the surface. Karmele Llano Sanchez, director of YIARI, explained that peat fires are exceptionally difficult to extinguish because the burning goes on below the surface where flames remain hidden. Across the region, thousands of hotspots have scorched tens of thousands of hectares, with thousands of task force personnel deployed alongside aircraft to manage containment operations.
Official figures from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency show that joint ground and aerial teams have made headway against active fronts. Berton SP Panjaitan reported that the total burned area across the six priority provinces reached 527.6 hectares, of which the majority had been successfully extinguished through extensive ground wetting and cloud-seeding missions. Firefighting operations on the island have faced delays due to decreasing local water levels, prompting Japan to dispatch firefighting aid.
Toxic thick haze blankets the sky, with residents remaining tense around the clock as fires have sometimes suddenly worsened at night. During the 2015 Southeast Asian wildfire crisis—which was also driven by a positive Indian Ocean Dipole and an El Niño—fire-related carbon dioxide emissions in Indonesia surpassed those generated by the entire U.S. economy across multiple days.
Toxic Haze Causes Acute Respiratory Infections
The thick, toxic haze generated by the blazes has drifted far beyond Indonesia’s borders. In South Kalimantan, residents like Siti have found themselves battling dizziness and breathing difficulties as fine particulate matter slips indoors, aggravating pre-existing conditions like childhood asthma.
Syamsul Arifin, the dean of Lambung Mangkurat University’s medical faculty, stated that these particles are extremely fine.
Health offices across the affected provinces have recorded tens of thousands of acute respiratory infections among residents, with thousands of cases involving children under the age of five. Medical personnel at local health centers report managing heavy daily patient loads involving persistent coughing and throat inflammation as families struggle to cope with the polluted air. According to the Ministry of Health, dense smoke has caused upwards of 50,000 respiratory infection cases throughout Indonesia in July and August, a figure that incorporates 12,000 young children under five years old.
Women Lead Community Firefighting Patrols
Local grassroots organizations have mobilized to protect their villages from advancing flames. In West Kalimantan, an all-female volunteer firefighting team known as the Power of Mama has taken on active patrol duties across high-risk plantation and forest boundaries. The 146-member group consists of women aged between 20 and 58 from 10 villages.
The volunteers face difficult conditions on the ground, ranging from scorching temperatures and thick smoke to stubborn community resistance against traditional land-clearing practices. Volunteers noted that public pushback can occasionally be challenging, explaining that older residents can be reluctant to abandon slash-and-burn methods until volunteers gently explain the immediate health risks to their children. Irma recalls the men of the village would tease them, asking if women were really capable, while she dressed in full safety gear and headed into fire zones on her motorbike.