Across the peatlands of Borneo, fires that burn underground as much as above it have consumed more than 200,000 hectares this season, driven by a super El Niño that has stripped the land of water and patience alike. What began as Indonesia's crisis has become a regional condition — toxic haze drifting more than a thousand kilometres to the Philippines and Malaysia, filling lungs and overwhelming clinics from Pontianak to Kuala Lumpur. Investigators believe many fires were deliberately lit to clear land for palm oil, binding an ecological catastrophe to human choices made in the dark. As foreca
Super El Niño fuels Indonesia's worst fire season, choking Southeast Asia with toxic haze
Tens of thousands of respiratory infections recorded; children and elderly particularly vulnerable; families without clean water for months; widespread health impacts across three countries.