Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain forest and land fires across six priority provinces, deploying aircraft for cloud-seeding operations as authorities work to induce rainfall and curb haze spreading across the region.
The country is experiencing a longer and more severe dry season this year as El Niño strengthens, increasing the risk of drought, wildfires and worsening air pollution.
Data from Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry showed that fires affected 107,465 hectares of land between January and June, representing a 110 per cent increase from the same period in 2023, when El Niño last significantly affected the country.
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“We are on alert because the weather conditions really make it possible for these fires to become larger,” Chief Security Minister Djamari Chaniago told reporters on Monday.
Djamari said there were indications that El Niño may already have reached its peak intensity in Indonesia.
The government has designated Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra on Sumatra Island, alongside West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan on Borneo, as the six priority provinces for fire containment efforts.
Fires have also been reported in other parts of the country, including Java, Papua and Nusa Tenggara.
In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, classes for all students were moved online after deteriorating air quality caused by haze, the city’s mayor said.
Djamari said authorities had deployed 43 helicopters and 15 fixed-wing aircraft to combat the fires.
Cloud-seeding operations have also been conducted, with salt flares used to stimulate rainfall. However, he noted that the efforts had been hampered by a shortage of rain-bearing clouds.
“That is why we closely monitor even small changes in the weather. Whenever something is likely to produce rain clouds, we immediately carry out cloud-seeding operations,” he said.
The impact of the haze has also spread beyond Indonesia’s borders. On Tuesday, 11 areas in Malaysia’s Sarawak State, which shares the island of Borneo with Indonesia, recorded unhealthy air quality levels, according to the country’s environmental department.
Sarawak’s education department directed schools to suspend outdoor activities whenever temperatures became excessively high or the air quality index rose above 100.
Meanwhile, on Java Island, a fire at Mount Bromo National Park in East Java Province that damaged at least 899 hectares had largely been extinguished, according to the Chief of the local disaster mitigation agency, Gatot Soebroto.
More than 150 personnel remained deployed on Tuesday to tackle the remaining blaze, which was still burning across at least two hectares.
Reuters
