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As Indonesia’s wildfires rage, haze spreads farther across Southeast Asia
As Indonesia’s wildfires rage, haze spreads farther across Southeast Asia. Originally published by Mongabay.
By Yenni Kwok · 2026-09-05T23:10:54.931Z
Haze from wildfires in Indonesia has spread even farther this week, reaching beyond Malaysia and Brunei to Singapore and the Philippines. On Sept. 4 Singaporean residents woke https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/haze in singapore psi crosses 101 in central region as air quality enters unhealthy range to a smoggy sky as air quality reached unhealthy levels. By late afternoon, the city had the third worst air quality globally, according https://www.iqair.com/world air quality to IQAir. Earlier this week, Philippine authorities declared https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2297596/unhealthy air quality blanketing eight areas denr air quality in parts of Luzon island, including https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2297173/doh better mask up amid haze from indonesia forest fires/amp Manila’s metropolitan areas, Visayas island group and Mindanao island as “acutely unhealthy”, blaming it on the transboundary haze from Indonesia. In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, which has been hit by transboundary haze for weeks https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias wildfire season surges as haze spreads into malaysia/ , the capital Kuching has topped https://www.iqair.com/air quality/malaysia/sarawak/kuching the rankings as the world’s most polluted city since early this week. Authorities declared a state of emergency in Serawak’s Serian district today. Malaysia’s health ministry warned https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2026/08/23/health ministry reports surge in respiratory illnesses as several areas hit unhealthy api levels/232408 in late August that cases of asthma rose by 259% and those of upper respiratory tract infections increased by 124% in a week. Oil rich Brunei has also been experiencing hazy conditions since mid August. Wildfires across Indonesia show no signs of abating, amid a “super” El Niño, which brings extremely dry conditions. As of Sept. 3, Firewatch https://map.nusantara atlas.org/ , a satellite monitoring platform, had detected more than 444,200 fire hotspots, which indicate potential fire sites, across the archipelago. This is 4.5 times the number detected on July 27 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia shows elevated fire hotspot activity in 2026 as super el nino threat looms/ . Indonesian officials said the fires were deliberately caused https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/08/indonesia charges 72 over fires as haze chokes borneo and sumatra/ , either by individuals or corporations. A Kompas newspaper report found https://www.kompas.id/artikel/karhutla berulang serta kerumitan birokrasi that wildfires are detected on the same sites year after year, with 50% occurring in oil palm concessions. Environmental NGO WALHI made a similar observation, saying https://www.walhi.or.id/ribuan hotspot di gambut hgu dan pbph bukti negara gagal memaksa korporasi bertanggung jawab atas karhutla that around half of hotspots in West and Central Kalimantan provinces this year occurred in oil palm and timber concessions. The NGO also pointed to 33 “high confidence” fire hotspots detected in August in a concession belonging to the pulp company PT Bumi Mekar Hijau in Sumatra. Ten years ago, the firm was found liable by an appellate court https://mongabay.co.id/2016/08/30/pengadilan tinggi palembang batalkan putusan mengenai pt bmh sebelumnya seperti apa/ for a fire that destroyed 20,000 hectares 49,421 acres of land. “Thousands of hotspots continue to be detected in peatland areas, plantations, and timber concessions, indicating that the government maintains a land use model that increases ecological vulnerability and heightens the risk of wildfires,” said WALHI spokesperson Dana Prima Tarigan. Residents and wildlife who live near the wildfires bear the brunt. Indonesia’s health ministry said it recorded https://katadata.co.id/infografik/6a991f78617e4/infografik karhutla picu lonjakan kasus ispa 50,891 acute respiratory infection cases caused by haze in July and August. Two volunteers who helped fight wildfires in Central Kalimantan died this week https://x.com/MongabayID/status/2095381675706597408 after complaining of breathing difficulties. Firefighters have found https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2026/08/21/151500465/trenggiling ditemukan mati akibat karhutla di ketapang ular jadi korban?page=all snake and pangolin carcasses in burned areas. Farmers in West Kalimantan rescued https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/orangutan rescued indonesia borneo forest fires haze 6350266 a Borneo orangutan Pongo pygmaeus on Sunday after he was found at an oil palm plantation. Days later, forestry authorities said https://www.antaranews.com/berita/5724479/kemenhut konfirmasi kematian orang utan sempurna diduga akibat asap the animal had died due to suspected smoke inhalation. Banner image: The riverside in Kuching city center, Sarawak state, Malaysia, is shrouded in thick haze, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Xpin Voon.