Indonesia's Degraded Peatlands Fuel Regional Haze Crisis, Threatening Health and Climate

For weeks this dry season, residents across Indonesian Borneo have moved through air so thick and discolored it seemed to belong to another world. The haze—a putrid red-brown fog—has settled over homes and farms as wildfires consume peatlands beneath and around them. By early October, those fires had released 140.5 megatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, the highest figure for Indonesian fire emissions since 2019. The smoke has drifted far beyond Borneo's borders, fouling the air in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Peatlands are not ordinary soil. They form over thousands of years in waterlogged conditions, where organic material accumulates without fully decomposing, creating layered deposits rich in carbon. Indonesia holds roughly a third of the world's tropical peatlands—an estimated 24.2 million hectares—yet of that vast reserve, 16.4 million hectares have been degraded and now sit vulnerable to fire. These ecosystems once supported dense forests where orangutans, clouded leopards, Sumatran tigers, and other endangered species lived. They also functioned as natural flood barriers and, critically, as carbon vaults: peatlands cover only three percent of global land but store roughly a third of all soil carbon on Earth—double what forests hold.

The degradation traces directly to industrial agriculture. Palm oil, timber, pulp, and rice cultivation have required systematic drainage of peatlands to make them workable. Indonesia has constructed canal networks totaling approximately 285,000 kilometres to move water away from these lands—a distance equivalent to circling Earth seven times. Once drained, the peat dries out and becomes combustible, especially during strong El Niño years when severe drought grips the region. The fires that result burn differently than ordinary wildfires. They smoulder slowly, often beneath the surface, sometimes for months. These "zombie fires" are fed by thick layers of carbon and produce little visible flame but enormous quantities of smoke—toxic smoke laden with formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and PM2.5 particles small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream. Though peatland fires account for less than a third of Indonesia's wildfires by count, they generate most of the haze.

The health toll has been immediate and substantial. In August and September alone, more than 170,000 people in Indonesia sought treatment for acute respiratory infections. Hundreds of schools across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have closed. The World Health Organization has established clear links between PM2.5 exposure and increased illness and death. Beyond human health, the fires have ravaged wildlife habitat, pushing already endangered species closer to extinction.

The climate dimension adds another layer of urgency. Indonesia's coal-dependent electricity grid already produces significant greenhouse gas emissions. The country has committed to reducing its overall emissions partly by relying on forests, peatlands, and other land ecosystems to absorb more carbon than they release. Instead, these peatland fires are now releasing carbon at rates not seen since 2019, undermining that strategy entirely.

Government responses have been mixed. Indonesia maintains a moratorium on new permits to clear 66 million hectares of primary forest and peatland. Last year, officials reported rewetting 4.16 million hectares of peatland, constructing 45,000 canal barriers, and replanting native species. Yet activists and researchers have raised serious questions about the effectiveness of this work. Greenpeace forest campaigner Belgis Habiba noted that some peatland units that received major restoration efforts have experienced fires and now show some of the highest hotspot counts. Last month, the government announced creation of a new National Peatland and Mangrove Management agency to replace a body whose mandate expired in 2024. The name itself has drawn scrutiny—it mentions neither restoration nor protection—and its actual remit and resources remain unclear. Habiba posed a pointed question: whether managing peatlands in this context might serve as cover for the state to grant new industrial concessions rather than genuine protection. The forestry ministry did not respond to requests for comment.