Why El Niño isn’t the sole culprit of forest fires
Kalimantan’s land fires aren’t just down to El Niño; they are caused by the soil losing its ability to hold water. Prevention must start by restoring the soil’s natural balance.
El Niño isn't the sole cause of forest fires in Kalimantan, the third largest island in the world. The issue runs deeper, rooted in the degradation of soil and its ability to retain water. Human activities such as the expansion of industrial plantations, like pulpwood and oil palm, have contributed significantly to this problem. Over decades, these activities have caused a loss of natural water retention capacity in the landscape.
Satellite data from the NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) supports this. It shows that fire activity in Kalimantan has surged leading up to mid-August, with the most detections in West Kalimantan. The total pixel area represented by these detections is approximately 2.24 million hectares, which does not equate to the actual burned area.
The issue goes beyond just weather patterns. Soil plays a crucial role in water storage, and its degradation significantly increases the risk of fires. Peatlands, which cover 4.5 million hectares of Kalimantan, are particularly vulnerable. Under natural conditions, these ecosystems can withstand moisture loss. However, drainage networks constructed for plantation clearing disrupt the balance, causing soil to dry up and become more susceptible to fires.
In fact, drainage canals are linked to a 4.5 times increased fire probability. Even powerful El Niño conditions alone cannot explain why fires recur in the same areas. Weather dictates when a landscape becomes flammable, while soil and land management determine how easily fires ignite, spread, and persist.
Preventing future fires requires a shift towards long-term strategies that focus on prevention. This includes halting further peatland conversion and addressing the root causes of soil degradation. It's clear that land fires cannot be treated as mere natural weather disasters.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
