‘Super’ El Niño Worsens Southeast Asia Wildfire Crisis as Toxic Haze Spreads
Firefighters in Indonesia are struggling to contain massive wildfires, some of which have been burning for weeks across Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island. Ground teams from the BBC have been reporting from the hardest-hit areas, where thick smoke has turned skies orange and forced schools and offices to shut.
Scientists and environmental officials say this year’s El Niño — already stronger than usual and still intensifying — is likely to make matters worse. Dry conditions linked to the climate pattern are expected to prolong the fire season and amplify the release of carbon stored in the region’s vast peatlands, which have been drained and cleared for agriculture in recent decades.
Haze from the fires has drifted across national borders, blanketing parts of neighboring Malaysia and reaching as far north as the Philippines. In Indonesia alone, authorities report that thousands of people have been admitted to hospitals with acute respiratory infections, while countless others are enduring hazardous air quality that has disrupted daily life for weeks.
The fires also threaten to unlock so-called “carbon bombs” — enormous underground reservoirs of ancient organic material beneath the peatlands. When these carbon-rich layers burn, they release greenhouse gases on a scale that can significantly affect global climate targets, experts warn. The fires are largely driven by land-clearing practices, particularly for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, a pattern that has repeated for decades despite government pledges to curb it.
On the ground, the human toll is becoming increasingly visible. In South Kalimantan, a farmer told BBC Indonesia that he lost his entire fruit tree orchard to the flames, leaving him with no income and no way to replant. Nearby, a young mother sat with her three-year-old daughter, who had been sick for days because of the smoke. "She keeps coughing and can’t sleep," the mother said. "The air is poison for children."
Regional cooperation and fire prevention efforts have so far proved insufficient to stop the annual crisis. As the El Niño continues to strengthen, communities across Southeast Asia are bracing for what could become one of the most severe haze seasons in years — and a grim reminder of the links between land use, climate change, and public health.