Indonesia charges 72 over fires as haze chokes Borneo and Sumatra

Indonesian authorities have charged 72 individuals with deliberately setting forest fires across five provinces on the island of Borneo and four on Sumatra. The blazes have consumed approximately 286,000 hectares (about 707,000 acres) of land on both islands between January and August 24, according to FireWatch, a satellite-based monitoring tool created by the Nusantara Atlas platform.

The fires represent an area roughly half the size of Bali. Authorities attribute the wildfires to prolonged dry conditions and a severe El Niño event that exacerbated the situation. Local law enforcement claims the 72 suspects utilized fires to clear land for planting. Police recovered items like lighters, fuel containers, machetes, axes, and samples of burned soil and tree trunks as evidence.

Smoke from the wildfires has created choking haze, reducing visibility to just 10 meters (33 feet) in one province. Mongabay has previously reported that the fires have led to hazardous air quality and the destruction of vegetation, resulting in food shortages for wildlife such as long-tailed macaques. The smoke has even crossed into neighboring Malaysia.

The wildfires have also impacted crucial conservation efforts, such as an orangutan rehabilitation facility in Borneo's West Kalimantan province, where more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans are housed. Rising health concerns are also emerging.