Wildfires: All hands on deck

All hands are on deck as Indonesia grapples with its most severe wildfires in years. The devastating blaze has sent plumes of smoke soaring into the skies, choking the air for millions and spilling over borders into neighboring countries. The real driving force behind this catastrophe, experts warn, is not the unusually dry weather brought on by an intense El Nino, but rather corporate negligence and a lack of stringent oversight.

Despite repeated warnings about the looming danger of forest and peatland fires during the supercharged dry season, many citizens and officials have seemingly dismissed the growing threat. This year's infernos are said to be worse than those seen in previous El Nino cycles, which also brought prolonged drought to the archipelago.

As of late June, official reports indicated that approximately 107,000 hectares of forest and peatland had been set ablaze - nearly double the areas affected during the 2018 and 2023 El Ninos combined. By late July, the tally had jumped to a staggering 202,000 hectares. The magnitude of the disaster is staggering, with the thick haze produced by the fires affecting over 3 million people across the region, forcing school closures and prompting health authorities to issue dire warnings about the hazardous air quality.

While El Nino is often pointed to as the primary culprit behind such disasters, the weather phenomenon merely exacerbates the risk. It is human activity, most notably the deliberate burning of forests and peatlands for agricultural purposes, that typically ignites the flames. These fires then spread rapidly in the parched conditions that authorities find themselves woefully unprepared to handle.

Environmental groups are quick to point the finger at satellite data showing numerous fires originating within commercial concessions, particularly oil palm plantations. They accuse companies of recklessly setting fire to these areas in an effort to clear land for monoculture crop cultivation. Environmentalists also criticize the government's weak forest governance, arguing that it has allowed these destructive practices to continue unabated despite numerous regulations banning commercial land clearance through burning.