Across the Indonesian archipelago, a dry season hardened by a strong El Nino and by decades of cleared forest and drained peat has once again turned into a season of burning. Satellite monitoring now counts 2.88 million hectares scorched this year, a figure that has already passed the worst total in the record kept since 2019. The true toll may be larger still, since smoke has hidden parts of the land from orbit, and the haze that has sickened hundreds of thousands of people has crossed into Malaysia and Singapore. Official numbers remain unpublished, leaving the scale of the loss known largel
Indonesia's Wildfires Have Burned 2.88 Million Hectares in 2026, Already Surpassing 2019's Record
Fire-driven pollution has sickened hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia, and haze has spread into Malaysia and Singapore.
"Basically, it's a really bad year."
Mark
Start with the headline number. 2.88 million hectares. Where does it come from?
Mimi
From Nusantara Atlas, a deforestation monitoring site that analyses satellite imagery. It gave AFP the figure, covering burning detected through the end of October.
Luke
Worth being clear that this is one monitor's analysis. The government hasn't confirmed or disputed it.
Mark
Why hasn't it? Surely officials have their own numbers.
Mimi
The last official figure was 202,000 hectares, announced at the end of July. The government has said it needs more time to analyse data. AFP has asked for comment on this latest data.
Luke
So the gap between 202,000 and 2.88 million is partly a gap in timing. The two figures aren't from the same date, and we don't know what the government will eventually report.
Mark
The monitor says its figure is conservative. What does that mean?
Mimi
Smoke has blocked satellite views of some burned ground. Those burn scars may show up in coming months, so the total could rise.
Luke
And that's the founder's judgment. It's plausible, but it's a projection, not a measurement.
Mark
Is it fair to say this is worse than 2015?
Mimi
Not on this evidence. The imagery used then was different, so a direct comparison is hard. What's confirmed in this data is that it beats 2019, the previous worst in Nusantara Atlas records.
Luke
Right, and that's the limit of the claim: record within one dataset, not an all-time record.
Der Puls
- Satellite data shows 2.88 million hectares burned in 2026, already surpassing the 2019 full-year record.
- Smoke from the fires has sickened hundreds of thousands in Indonesia and drifted across the border into Malaysia and Singapore.
- A strong El Nino drought and drained peatlands have left vast stretches of land primed to burn.
- The government has released no burned-area figures since July, while the monitoring group warns the count is still an underestimate.
- Rain has arrived and hotspots are beginning to ease, but burn scars hidden by smoke may reveal more loss in coming months.
Across the Indonesian archipelago, a dry season hardened by a strong El Nino and by decades of cleared forest and drained peat has once again turned into a season of burning. Satellite monitoring now counts 2.88 million hectares scorched this year, a figure that has already passed the worst total in the record kept since 2019. The true toll may be larger still, since smoke has hidden parts of the land from orbit, and the haze that has sickened hundreds of thousands of people has crossed into Malaysia and Singapore. Official numbers remain unpublished, leaving the scale of the loss known largely through the eyes of outside observers.
On Wednesday, the monitoring group Nusantara Atlas told AFP that fires have now burned 2.88 million hectares across Indonesia this year, roughly eighteen times the area of London. The figure has grown by nearly a million hectares since September and already exceeds the 2019 total, previously the worst year in the group's records.
The group's founder, David Gaveau, says even this number is conservative. Smoke has blocked parts of the satellite view, so some burned ground remains uncounted. He described the season simply as a really bad year. Indonesia's government last reported a burned area in late July, when it cited 202,000 hectares, and has since said it needs more time to analyse data.
The fires are a regular part of Indonesia's dry season, but this year a strong El Nino drought, decades of deforestation and drained peatlands have made the land far more vulnerable. The human cost has been heavy: severe local pollution has sickened hundreds of thousands, and the haze has reached Malaysia and Singapore.
Rain has now come and brought some of the worst blazes under control, and hotspots are beginning to level off. Still, the total is expected to rise as hidden burn scars become visible to satellites. The next thing to watch is whether the government will publish its own figures.
On Wednesday, a deforestation monitor that tracks Indonesia from orbit told AFP that fires across the country have now burned 2.88 million hectares this year, about 7.1 million acres. The group, Nusantara Atlas, puts that at roughly 18 times the area of London.
The number has climbed by nearly a million hectares since the monitor's previous update in September. Its analysis runs through the end of October, and it already exceeds the full-year total for 2019, which had been the worst year on record in Nusantara Atlas data.
The group's founder, David Gaveau, cautions that even this figure is conservative. Smoke has obscured parts of the satellite imagery, so some burned ground has not yet been counted. He summed up the season plainly: "Basically, it's a really bad year."
There is also a gap where official numbers should be. Indonesia's government last published a burned-area figure at the end of July, when it said 202,000 hectares had been razed. It has issued nothing since, saying earlier that it needed more time to analyse data. AFP has asked the government to comment on the monitor's latest findings.
Indonesia also suffered devastating fires in 2015, but the satellite imagery used then was different, which makes a direct comparison with this year difficult. Gaveau says the scale of destruction is clear regardless.
The fires are a feature of every dry season in Indonesia, but this year's have been unusually severe. A strong El Nino brought an intense drought. Experts also point to decades of deforestation and the draining of peatlands for plantations, which have left large areas of land far more vulnerable to burning.
The human toll has been heavy. The fires have caused severe local pollution that has sickened hundreds of thousands of people, and haze has drifted into neighbouring countries, including Malaysia and Singapore.
Rain has now arrived and has brought some of the worst blazes under control. Monitoring shows the number of hotspots beginning to flatten or decline. But the total is likely to rise: some fires are still burning, and burn scars hidden by smoke should become visible to satellites in the coming months. Whether and when the Indonesian government publishes its own figures is the next thing to watch.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Basically, it's a really bad year.— David Gaveau, founder of Nusantara Atlas
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