Wildfires: All hands on deck

The devastating wildfires raging across Indonesia have once again highlighted the urgent need for corporate accountability and improved governance in the country. Despite repeated warnings about the heightened risk of forest and peatland fires during the intense dry season, led by a powerful El Nino phenomenon, the authorities have seemingly ignored the calls for action.

The scale of this year's crisis is alarming, with over 202,000 hectares of land burned by late July, nearly double the affected areas during previous El Nino cycles in 2018 and 2023.

The Forestry Ministry's data reveals the severity of the situation, with smoke from the extensive fires enveloping the lives of more than 3 million people across the region, including neighboring Malaysia. Schools have been forced to close, and health authorities have issued dire warnings about the hazardous air quality, urging the public to avoid outdoor activities.

While El Nino is often cited as the primary cause of these disasters, environmental experts argue that it merely exacerbates the risk. The real culprits, they assert, lie in human activities, particularly those carried out within commercial concessions. Satellite data shows that many of the fires originate within these areas, with oil palm plantations being specifically targeted.

Environmentalists accuse companies of deliberately setting fire to forests and peatlands to clear them for monoculture crop cultivation. They also criticize the weak forest governance, which they argue allows these harmful practices to continue despite numerous regulations banning commercial land clearance by burning.