Editorial
As Indonesia's catastrophic wildfires choke the wider region yet again, the real culprit isn't the unusually prolonged dry weather but the corporate impunity and lax governance fueling the flames.
Smoke billows from burning peatland on Aug. 26, 2026, obscuring an adjacent oil palm plantation in East Tanjung Jabung regency, Jambi. (Antara/Wahdi Septiawan)
Warnings about widespread forest and peatland fires during a supercharged dry season due to a "Godzilla" El Nino have apparently fallen on deaf ears. Large parts of the country are now engulfed in flames, harming not only local residents but also communities in neighboring countries.This year’s wildfires are deemed worse than those during the last two El Nino cycles that also brought prolonged drought to the archipelago.
As of late June, the Forestry Ministry reported around 107,000 hectares of forest and peatland were burned, nearly double the areas affected during the 2018 and 2023 El Ninos. By late July, that figure had spiked to 202,000 ha.
