Indonesia’s Devastating Fires
It’s become a devastating tradition; every fall, blazes set fire to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of acres of Indonesian land.
The vast majority of fires are set intentionally and illegally by humans, with around 80 percent of fires set to clear land for palm plantations. Palm oil is found in a huge number of everyday products, from peanut butter and chocolate to lipstick, soap and shampoo. There is tremendous global demand for palm oil and Indonesia, the largest palm oil producer, supplied 56% of the world’s palm oil in 2018. Indonesian palm oil producers seek to capitalize on the global demand for palm oil by any means, almost always resorting to slash and burn fires, the cheapest and quickest method of clearing land for agriculture. These fires wreak havoc on Indonesian forests and the diverse wildlife that inhabit them.
Many of the fires burn on peatlands, swamps that form when a forest floor is continuously saturated with water. Peatlands are home to highly concentrated amounts of dead plant matter which locks in carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis. Peat eventually solidifies into highly flammable coal, yet because it is wet, peat doesn’t naturally catch fire. In order to clear out peatlands for agriculture and palm plantations, Indonesian farmers first drain peats, stripping them of their wetness, before setting them on fire.
This drainage process also dries out the highly concentrated and highly flammable carbon matter, that exacerbates fires. The only method to put out fires that ravage peatlands is to flood the entire area. Worse, when peatlands are burnt, the highly concentrated carbon stored in dead plant matter is released as carbon dioxide, or carbon monoxide leading to devastating environmental consequences, and seriously harming human populations within the region.
Though every summer and fall hundreds of thousands of acres of land are burned in Indonesia, during certain years arid conditions lead to uncontrollable fires and increased devastation. 2019 saw the worst fires since 2015, with a total of 2.3 million acres burned this year.
The health effects of Indonesia’s annual fires are devastating. During 2019’s fire season, which lasted from June to November, over 900,000 people reported respiratory illnesses, hundreds of schools were closed throughout Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, and 12 national airports were briefly closed.
The release of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as other air pollutants and greenhouse gas is to blame for the devastating health effects. This smog and toxic haze puts around 10 million children who live in the worst affected areas at serious risk. Children, especially those under five, are most vulnerable to developing respiratory illnesses caused by the fires due to their undeveloped immune systems. In 2015, the fires burned 6.4 million acres of land and were estimated to have caused over 100,000 premature deaths.
The environmental consequences of Indonesia’s fires are also severe. Indonesian tropical forests are home to over 10% of the world’s mammals, birds and reptile species, and the continued deforestation drives many animal species closer to extinction. In Borneo, for example, the fires have endangered the island’s orangutan population. Many orangutans have contracted respiratory illnesses, and the deforestation has led to a loss of their natural habitat. The fires also release tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide, the world’s primary greenhouse gas, exacerbating the issue of climate change.
After the devastating fires of 2015, the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has vowed to curb the devastating fires. New permits for cultivating and clearing land were imposed and between 2016 and 2017 primary forest lost in protected peatlands decreased by 88%. In 2019, over 200 people were arrested for illegally starting fires either as an individual farmer or as a corporation. Those arrested could face up to 10 years in prison.
This year, neighboring countries also began to demand change. Malaysia’s government called on Indonesia’s government to take immediate action regarding the fires, which have devastated Malaysia and its citizens. Singapore has also been severely impacted by the fires, and the country issued its first unhealthy air quality report in years. It too has called on the Indonesian government to take serious action to curb the devastating fires.
Despite the Indonesian government’s stricter stance on using fires to clear land, given the huge role palm oil production plays in Indonesia’s economy, the government has also taken steps to protect the industry. In August of 2019, the Indonesian government banned products that display the label “palm oil free” from Indonesian grocery stores. When the European Commission proposed to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels by 2030, the Indonesian government threatened to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. Instead, the Indonesian president stated that he hoped in the future diesel fuels used in Indonesia would need to be 100% palm oil.
Indonesia’s palm oil exports also surged this year, primarily due to China’s increased demand for the product. Demand for palm oil from such a large market such as China, and the importance of palm oil for Indonesia’s economy suggests that Indonesia’s palm oil exports won’t halt any time soon. The real question is how Indonesia will regulate palm oil production, and whether they will take further action to curb the devastating forest fires that have become an annual tradition in Indonesia.
