分类： environment

For coastal communities stretching across the Philippines, Taiwan (China), mainland China, and Japan, navigating seasonal severe weather has long been an embedded part of daily life. Yet the past several months have brought a historically unusual stretch of catastrophic, often erratic storm events, supercharged by one of the most powerful El Niño events on record, leaving dozens dead, major international airports temporarily shuttered, and vast swathes of agricultural land and critical public infrastructure destroyed across the region. In October, Taiwan (China) prepared for a near-direct hit from Typhoon Champi, a Category 5-equivalent storm large enough to cover the entire 23-million resident island, packing sustained wind speeds of up to 295km/h (193mph) strong enough to level residential structures and generate life-threatening storm surges. Though the system ultimately skirted the island without making formal landfall, deluging local communities with heavy rainfall, its ripple effects extended across the broader region: hundreds of cross-border flights were cancelled across Hong Kong, Taiwan (China), and Japan, coastal highways in the Philippines’ Batanes archipelago were closed due to towering waves crashing over sea walls, and 15,000 households in Japan’s southern Okinawa Prefecture lost full electrical power. El Niño is a naturally recurring climatic phenomenon driven by pooled warm surface waters in the eastern Pacific and shifting global wind patterns that trigger cascading extreme weather events worldwide, typically occurring every 2 to 7 years and persisting for roughly 12 months. The UK Met Office has classified the 2025-2026 El Niño event as the strongest in living memory, with projections indicating it will continue through at least February or March of the coming year. The months leading up to the current period of peak activity saw a relentless string of unusual storm events across the region: in June, Japan faced two simultaneous approaching systems, Typhoon Mekkhala and Severe Tropical Storm Higos, that forced nearly 1 million residents on its eastern coast to evacuate. In July, Tropical Storm Narra swept across southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, submerging entire rural villages and displacing tens of thousands of local residents. August brought Super Typhoon Dolphin, which churned across the Pacific Ocean for 16 consecutive days before making landfall in eastern China, triggering widespread destructive flooding and resulting in dozens of recorded casualties. Just weeks later, Typhoon Saudel made landfall in three separate southeastern Chinese cities over a seven-day window, paralyzing regional transport networks and prompting mass evacuation orders for thousands of at-risk residents. Official data from the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, a standardized metric that tracks the total combined intensity of all tropical cyclones in a given season, shows that the El Niño-heated Pacific Ocean is currently holding record levels of storm-generating energy, with the 2025 ACE reading for East and Southeast Asia projected to reach nearly double the 30-year historical average. The current El Niño’s alteration of global wind patterns is pushing storm formation hundreds of kilometers further east than usual, meaning developing typhoons spend far longer traveling over unusually warm open water, gaining far greater strength before reaching populated coastal zones. Ana Liza Solis, chief of the climatology division at the Philippines’ national weather service, described the current state of the Pacific Ocean at a September Manila press briefing as akin to a human body “burning with fever. It can go into convulsions soon.” Recent monitoring data underscores the severity of her warning: last month, equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures tracked by the Japan Meteorological Agency hit 4°C above the long-term historical average, the highest anomaly recorded since formal record-keeping began in 1949, surpassing the previous 3.6°C record set in December 1997. China’s national climate agency has warned that these record ocean temperatures will continue to climb over the next three months, even as the region is already reeling from months of consecutive storm impacts. Adding to the unusual nature of this season, August’s Typhoon Chan-Hom defied decades of observed regional storm patterns by traversing Japan from east to west, rather than the typical south-to-north trajectory that local disaster response systems are calibrated to address. While Japan’s well-funded, highly prepared emergency management authorities were able to coordinate swift evacuations to minimize casualties, experts note such unanticipated storm paths would create far more dangerous, high-stakes scenarios for less resourced neighboring nations. A team of climate researchers led by Manila-based climatologist Rafaela Jane Delfino recently ran simulation models to measure how elevated ocean and atmospheric temperatures would amplify the impacts of historic catastrophic Philippine storms, including 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally named Yolanda), which killed more than 6,000 people nationwide. Delfino described the study’s outcomes as “very, very scary findings”: the warmer atmospheric conditions driven by the current El Niño would increase total accumulated rainfall during such a storm by 26%, a devastating projection for a nation that already faces chronic annual flooding from monsoon rains and roughly 20 tropical cyclones per year. In recent years, widespread multi-day city-paralyzing flood events have pushed frustrated Filipino residents to stage public protests, calling out systemic corruption that they say has siphoned millions of dollars in public funding away from long-delayed flood control infrastructure projects. In a public post published via the University of the Philippines’ official website, Delfino emphasized that national and local government leaders must prioritize improved, granular understanding of evolving climate hazards to build more resilient frontline community defenses. Across the region, national authorities have rolled out immediate emergency preparedness measures: Japan’s government has advised all residents in typhoon-prone zones to stockpile at least several days of food and critical emergency supplies, and to secure all outdoor furniture and loose household items that could become deadly wind-borne projectiles during high-intensity storms. Chinese authorities have ordered local disaster management teams to complete full surveys of all high-vulnerability residential zones, and are rolling out system-wide upgrades to national typhoon early warning and real-time monitoring networks. The Philippines and neighboring Southeast Asian nations have rolled out targeted support for smallholder farmers, including subsidized fertilizer distributions, to mitigate projected sharp disruptions to staple food production, particularly rice harvests. However, long-term systemic adaptation planning remains uneven across the region. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific regional office recently issued a public warning that the window of opportunity for governments to implement proactive, long-term El Niño resilience measures is rapidly closing. “The severity of impact a community faces during an El Niño event is determined years in advance, by the choices made about where roads and residential settlements are zoned, how freshwater resources are managed, which populations are covered by formal social protection schemes, and whether public budgets are structured to absorb sudden climate shocks,” the agency noted in its official statement, adding: “Every El Niño tests the resilience infrastructure we have already built; this historic event must serve as the catalyst to build far more.”

As winter’s cooler temperatures settle across India’s northern plains, the national capital Delhi is once again grappling with a sharp, familiar deterioration in air quality that has pushed public health risks to alarming levels. Official air quality index (AQI) readings for the city crossed the 300 threshold this week, landing at 377 on Wednesday morning to fall firmly in the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) “very poor” classification, a stark reversal after Delhi logged its cleanest October average AQI in eight years. The sudden drop in air quality, which follows recent rainy, windier conditions that had cleared accumulated smog, has been traced to a confluence of meteorological and human-driven factors: plummeting temperatures, stagnant low wind speeds, and a surge in agricultural stubble burning in the adjacent states of Punjab and Haryana, where northwesterly winds now carry smoke from post-harvest field fires directly over the capital. The fine particulate matter driving the hazardous readings, PM2.5, measures roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair, allowing it to penetrate deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. Prolonged exposure to these levels of pollution carries severe health risks, including chronic respiratory illness, aggravated cardiovascular conditions, and disproportionate harm to vulnerable groups such as young children, elderly residents, and people with pre-existing medical conditions. In response to official forecasts that show very poor air quality persisting for the coming days, Delhi’s pollution management authorities have formally activated Stage II of the city’s tiered Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a framework of escalating emergency restrictions tailored to curb pollution sources as AQI levels rise. The new set of measures includes intensified street sweeping to suppress construction and road dust, increased parking fees to disincentivize private car use, expanded public transit services including 20 additional weekday Delhi Metro trips, and staggered government office timings to cut peak-hour traffic congestion. The public health crunch arrives just days ahead of Diwali, one of India’s most widely celebrated national festivals, a period that historically exacerbates Delhi’s annual winter pollution crisis due to widespread fireworks use that releases dense clouds of toxic gases and fine particulate matter into already smog-choked air. Last year, Delhi residents woke to a thick, toxic haze the morning after Diwali, even after courts had ordered a shift to lower-emission firework alternatives. This year, India’s Supreme Court has issued targeted regulations governing firework use across the National Capital Region: certified “green firecrackers”, which use reformulated chemical blends to produce 30% to 40% fewer emissions than conventional variants, are permitted for sale and use only during two narrow daily windows on November 7 and 8, between 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. local time and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The court has also imposed a total ban on firework detonation within 300 meters of designated silence zones, including hospitals, elder care facilities, and K-12 schools. All approved green firecrackers are required to carry scannable QR codes that allow consumers and enforcement officials to verify their manufacturing origin and certification status. Still, regulators acknowledge that enforcement remains a persistent, systemic challenge: the Supreme Court noted in its latest ruling that uncertified, highly polluting conventional fireworks have long been illegally marketed and sold as green alternatives even under full bans. To crack down on violations, law enforcement agencies have been ordered to conduct regular random patrols of designated firework sales zones, carry out spot QR code checks, and seize all unapproved stock. The seasonal air pollution crisis is not isolated to Delhi. India’s financial hub Mumbai, which typically benefits from coastal winds that disperse airborne pollutants, also recorded a very poor AQI reading of 322 on October 24, driven by low wind speeds, construction dust, open garbage burning, cross-border pollutant drift, and pre-Diwali firework emissions. While Mumbai’s air quality has since improved to a “satisfactory” AQI of 89 as of Wednesday, with adjacent Navi Mumbai logging a moderate 118 AQI, the recent smoggy two-week stretch prompted widespread resident documentation of the haze across social media platforms, highlighting that poor urban air quality is now a nationwide public health priority across Indian metropolitan areas.

A landmark peer-reviewed study published in *Scientific Reports* has revealed that unplanned, rapid expansion of residential, tourism, and hydropower infrastructure across high-risk Himalayan zones spanning northern Nepal, southeastern Tibet, and India’s Uttarakhand state has exposed more than 300,000 people to life-threatening glacial flood and landslide hazards, with the actual at-risk population likely far higher than initial estimates. Conducted by a nine-member international research team from the UK, Nepal, and India, the analysis tracked built-up land expansion across a 50-kilometer downstream buffer from major Himalayan rivers and around 1,360 documented glacial lakes, finding that overall development in hazard-prone zones surged 45% between 2016 and 2023, while construction in areas directly vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods skyrocketed nearly 78% over the same seven-year period. The research was finalized shortly before Nepal’s catastrophic August 2024 mass flooding that killed over 1,400 people and left thousands unaccounted for, and subsequent smaller but destructive incidents including the October 11 flash flood on the Budhi Gandaki River that destroyed 200 homes, washed away five bridges, and left five residents missing. Even the study’s conservative risk threshold, which categorized all structures within 50 vertical meters of river or glacial lake surfaces as exposed, understates actual danger: during the August Rasuwa district floods, local witnesses recorded river levels rising 70 meters at some points, burying buildings previously thought to be safely distanced from waterways under meters of debris. Rapid development has centered on iconic high-value Himalayan destinations including Pokhara, a world-famous tourism hub at the foot of the Annapurna range, where decades of unregulated growth to accommodate surging visitor numbers have left hundreds of heritage and residential buildings as close as 5 meters from the Seti Gandaki River banks, defying newer setback ordinances that mandate greater distance from waterways. Pokhara Mayor Dhana Raj Acharya noted that relocating these at-risk communities poses unprecedented logistical and financial challenges. The adjacent Annapurna trekking corridor, which draws hundreds of thousands of global hikers annually, has also seen unplanned homestay and hotel construction along riverbanks, with local business owners reporting plummeting bookings this peak trekking season as visitors avoid disaster-hit zones. Laxman Subedi, president of the Hotel Association Pokhara, openly acknowledged that the regional tourism sector expanded haphazardly with no formal risk planning for decades, and the industry group is now rushing to roll out risk awareness campaigns for local operators and investors. Beyond tourism, the valleys surrounding the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers have seen a boom in hydropower plant construction, adding further strain to the fragile mountain ecosystem. Study lead author Dr. C Scott Watson, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds, emphasized that current short-sighted development decisions will lock in severe disaster risk for local communities for generations to come. The underlying driver of these escalating hazards is the Himalayan region’s accelerated warming, which is occurring at twice the global average, triggering rapid glacial melt, permafrost thaw, glacial lake expansion, and destabilization of steep mountain slopes that are already vulnerable to seismic activity. Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah highlighted this inequity during his recent UN General Assembly address, noting that his nation contributes almost nothing to global carbon emissions yet pays a colossal price for climate change, with every major disaster erasing years of hard-won development gains and forcing the low-income nation to take on crippling debt for post-disaster recovery. While independent mountain geographer Dr. Alton Byers of the University of Colorado described the new study as a critical springboard to push for life-saving early warning systems and targeted mitigation action, widespread enforcement failures of existing building and zoning regulations remain a core barrier. Urban planning expert Prof. Surya Raj Acharya of the University of Nepal noted that developers have long ignored mandatory river setback rules to build on the only accessible flat low-lying land along valley floors, even though the ecologically fragile Himalayan ecosystem demands far stricter construction safeguards than lowland regions. In response, Nepal’s national disaster management agency has announced an immediate full ban on new settlements within 15 meters of riverbanks along the devastated Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi corridor, with similar zoning restrictions rolling out across other high-risk river valleys in the coming months, though officials acknowledged that relocating long-established communities with deep sentimental ties to their ancestral land will be an enormous undertaking. Across the border in India’s Uttarakhand state, local environmental activists have decried rampant unregulated construction in pilgrimage and tourism zones, where formal floodplain zoning rules have been systematically bypassed in the name of economic growth. The Uttarakhand state cabinet approved long-delayed new floodplain land use regulations on October 12 to restrict unplanned construction, but disaster studies expert Prof. Basanta Raj Adhikari of Tribhuvan University warned that total elimination of Himalayan disaster risk is impossible, and proposed tiered risk mapping tied to differentiated insurance premium structures as a market-based incentive to push developers and residents to shift to safer higher-ground locations. For the moment, however, the pace of unplanned construction across the transboundary Himalayan high-risk zone shows no signs of slowing, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents facing persistent, growing exposure to catastrophic climate-driven disasters.

Against a backdrop of escalating attacks on commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz that have upended global oil and liquefied natural gas supply chains and undermined cross-border energy security, Turkey is accelerating a wide-ranging portfolio of climate action measures as it prepares to host the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in the southern coastal city of Antalya from November 9 to 20. New data compiled by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy confirms that October 2025 has already become the most dangerous month on record for commercial shipping operating in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding Middle Eastern waterways, with 28 verified attacks logged in the 30-day period alone, bringing the total number of incidents since the outbreak of regional hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran on February 28 to 113. The International Maritime Organisation further tallies 120 total disruptive events across the Strait of Hormuz and broader Middle East maritime zones, placing roughly 20,000 seafarers, port personnel and offshore energy staff at direct risk. As one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, the Strait of Hormuz’s ongoing instability has underscored the urgent need for diversified, low-carbon energy frameworks that reduce reliance on volatile fossil fuel trade routes. Ankara’s pre-COP31 green roadmap spans energy market reform, clean maritime technology deployment, circular economy promotion and coastal ecological conservation, designed to position the country as a regional leader in equitable climate transition. As of October 10, 2025, Turkey’s total installed electricity capacity stands at 127.3 gigawatts, with renewable sources already accounting for 62% of that total, according to official figures from national energy markets operator Energy Exchange Istanbul (EPIAS). Taha Meli Arvas, EPIAS Chief Executive, outlined that the administration’s next core priority is scaling up national battery storage capacity to convert intermittent renewable energy into reliable baseload power, eliminating gaps in clean energy supply. EPIAS already administers the YEK-G system, a national renewable energy guarantee-of-origin platform that standardizes the issuance, trading and redemption of verified renewable electricity certificates, allowing domestic and international businesses to formally document their use of low-carbon power. The country is also developing a national emissions trading system (ETS), scheduled for a two-year pilot phase starting in 2026. The 2026 pilot year will operate as an emissions monitoring period, requiring participating industries to submit full, verified emissions reports without mandatory allowance surrenders, before the formal carbon pricing mechanism launches in 2027. Mustafa Aydin, EPIAS Deputy General Director for Environmental and Minerals Markets, explained that revenues generated from the ETS will be reinvested to support industrial decarbonization projects, a critical support structure for Turkish manufacturers that export heavily to the European Union, where the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will soon impose tariffs on imports with high embedded carbon content. EPIAS is currently running targeted training and support programs for domestic enterprises to help them meet CBAM reporting requirements and avoid unexpected cross-border compliance costs. Turkey’s clean transition efforts also extend to the maritime sector, a key segment of its national economy. In the Tuzla shipbuilding hub, local firm Navtek Naval Technologies has developed the ZeeTug line of zero-emission, battery-powered harbour tugboats, four of which are already in active commercial operation. Unlike traditional diesel-powered tugs, these electric vessels eliminate direct exhaust emissions and drastically cut operational noise pollution during in-port ship maneuvering. The country is also partnering with the Istanbul-based Zero Waste Foundation, established in 2023, to integrate circular economy principles into its national climate agenda. The foundation, led by President Samed Agirbas and advised by Christian Mensah, a former senior UN-Habitat official, is advancing initiatives targeting food waste reduction, methane emissions cuts, resource efficiency and cross-sector circular industrial practices. It has also proposed the creation of a dedicated Istanbul Platform that will connect zero-waste project developers with global green financing, track implementation progress and ensure accountability for climate commitments made during COP31. The framework moves far beyond basic waste disposal and recycling to prioritize upstream waste prevention, optimized material utilization and full emissions reduction across entire production and consumption value chains. Turkey’s pre-summit preparations also include targeted coastal ecosystem restoration and protection projects. In the Fethiye-Gocek protected marine area, a network of purpose-built buoys and designated mooring points, managed via the digital Deria mapping system, eliminates the need for recreational and commercial vessels to drop anchors on sensitive seabed seagrass meadows. These seagrass habitats act as critical feeding and breeding grounds for endangered marine species including sea turtles, dolphins and Mediterranean monk seals, while also sequestering vast amounts of carbon in their biomass and underlying sediments. The Zero Waste Foundation is also drafting a comprehensive conservation management plan for the Dalyan-Koycegiz region, which encompasses Lake Koycegiz, the connecting Dalyan canal network, extensive wetland and forest ecosystems, and Iztuzu Beach, one of the Mediterranean’s most important nesting sites for vulnerable loggerhead turtles. The upcoming COP31 summit will bring together national governments, private sector stakeholders and civil society groups from across the globe to align on accelerated climate action and deliver on previously agreed international emissions reduction commitments. For Turkey, the high-profile global gathering offers a unique platform to showcase its homegrown green transition strategies to an international audience, while the ongoing instability in the Strait of Hormuz has reinforced that building a resilient, low-carbon national energy system is no longer just a climate priority, but a critical national and regional energy security imperative.

When sunlight filters through the thick toxic smog that cloaks Indonesian Borneo, every structure – from passing cars to residential homes to city streets – fades in and out of a dull, rust-colored fog. The scene has been widely described as nothing short of apocalyptic, but for local residents like Dianyra Eka Nastiti, a mother of three living in Palangkaraya, the terror peaks after dark.

“Sometimes at night my baby’s chest makes a rattling sound,” Nastiti shared. “She was hospitalized for bronchopneumonia when she was just a month and a half old, and every single night I lie awake worrying: Will my child wake up coughing tomorrow? These thoughts haunt me every night.”

Nastiti’s home sits on the frontline of a months-long environmental disaster that has choked large swathes of Southeast Asia in dangerous pollution. Data from open-access satellite platform Nusantara Atlas shows that roughly 1.9 million hectares of land across Indonesia – an area roughly equivalent to the entire U.S. state of New Jersey, or the whole nation of Fiji – have been burned by wildfires since January 2024 alone. One million of those hectares were lost just in September.

The harmful impact of the fires extends far beyond the burned areas. Smouldering forest, swamp, and peatland releases a thick mix of microparticles and carbon monoxide, forming a massive toxic cloud that has engulfed most of Indonesia and drifted as far as neighboring Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

As of mid-October, Indonesia’s Ministry of Health has documented more than 277,000 cases of chronic cough and acute respiratory infection linked to the haze, over 62,000 of which affect infants and toddlers under the age of five. Twenty-two-year-old Natari Victoria, who was admitted to a Palangkaraya health center after suffering from a persistent cough for more than a week, says the public health crisis has touched every corner of the community. “The forest fires have had a huge impact, especially on everyone’s health,” she explained. “I have young cousins, including babies, who are coughing too. It’s really taking a toll on them.”

Smoke from peat fires carries a complex mix of pollutants that pose severe, long-term risks to human health. Tiny particulate matter can penetrate deep into lung tissue, and in severe cases enter the bloodstream, triggering inflammation, chronic respiratory illness, and raising the risk of premature death. The fires also release massive volumes of toxic greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, worsening global climate change.

“Here in Central Kalimantan, especially in Palangkaraya, the sky has turned yellow and hazy,” said Riduan, head of the Palangkaraya Health Office. “What are residents actually breathing in? It’s not fresh oxygen – it’s carbon dioxide and pollutants. As a result, the body, specifically the brain, doesn’t get enough oxygen.”

Children, elderly people, and pregnant women are uniquely vulnerable to the haze, with health impacts worsening over prolonged exposure. Official guidance urges residents to stay indoors to limit exposure, but for many low-income communities, this advice is completely unworkable. “I still need to buy vegetables, stock up on food, purchase school supplies, and take care of other necessities,” Nastiti said. “It’s simply not possible to stay locked inside 24/7, and I feel like the people who say that have no idea what is actually happening here.”

Nastiti’s top priority is protecting her children’s health, so she forces them inside whenever the haze grows particularly thick. “With conditions being so unsafe, I have no choice,” she explained. “Our young children should be at the park, playing with their friends and going to school. Instead, they are locked inside the house.”

Thirty-seven-year-old Lola Macitri, who lives in the rural village of Ramang 50 kilometers north of Palangkaraya, has been similarly confined to her home as the smog has deepened from dusty grey to amber yellow to a murky burnt orange over recent weeks. Her children, like most students in the worst-affected regions of Indonesia, have shifted to remote online classes, while she and other local adults can only manage half a day of work outside before falling ill from the toxic air.

Countless farmers, daily-wage laborers, and small street vendors face an impossible choice: risk their health to earn a living, or stay safe and watch their livelihoods collapse. With few evacuation options available to low-income communities, most have no choice but to wait out the crisis. “If you ask whether we are afraid of the health risks, of course we are,” Macitri said. “But where else can we go? We just have to endure and stay strong through this situation, because there is simply no other option.”

Indonesian authorities are facing growing public anger over what many residents describe as a woefully insufficient response to the crisis. Officials say they have rolled out a range of fire suppression measures, from aerial waterbombing to experimental weather modification. Last week, the government announced it had deployed more than 60,000 personnel to carry out a coordinated land operation, claiming an 80% success rate in extinguishing new ignitions.

“At this point, I think we need to use every safe and effective option available to suppress the fires,” said Dr. Nisa Novita, a forestry and peatland researcher with Indonesian conservation NGO Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN). “It’s a bit like trying to save a sinking ship: we need to act urgently, use whatever tools can help, and prevent further damage while we still can.”

Even so, resources for frontline responders are rapidly running out. Firefighter Juni has been battling the blazes for more than 100 days, and says the fires often mask their persistence: while flames may die down on the surface, deep underground, smouldering blazes continue to eat through thick layers of carbon, vegetation, and peat. “It is truly exhausting,” he said, describing the chronic shortness of breath, persistent cough, and constant eye pain he has developed from working in the haze. When asked what he needs most to continue the fight, his answer was simple: “air. The haze makes it hard to breathe. We are just hoping for heavy rain.”

Juni’s wish is shared by millions of people across Indonesia and neighboring Southeast Asian nations. While seasonal wildfires are a recurring event in Indonesia, this year’s Super El Niño has amplified drought conditions and delayed the heavy seasonal rains that are the most effective tool for extinguishing stubborn peat fires. This has turned a routine seasonal event into an unprecedented catastrophe for frontline firefighters and local residents alike.

Dr. Novita noted that prolonged drought has also depleted local water reserves, making it even harder to bring the blazes under control. Fellow Palangkaraya firefighter Fauzi Rahman echoed this frustration, explaining that peatland fires require far more time and resources to extinguish than typical wildfires. “Peatland fires are hard to put out because they require a lot of water and a long time,” he said. “On regular land we can clear 20 hectares in a single day, especially with a large team… On peatland, it can take months. We really have to inject water deep down, all the way to the bottom, which requires a huge amount of water. And right now, water is hard to find.”

Most concerning of all, Dr. Novita says her team has documented fires spreading into previously unaffected areas, expanding the scope of the disaster beyond the usual high-risk zones. “So we’re not only dealing with fires in the usual hotspots but also seeing them emerge in new areas,” she said.

In Palangkaraya, residents are growing increasingly desperate for an end to the crisis. But for most, relief will only come when the much-awaited rains finally arrive. “Hopefully, with all the extraordinary efforts from the community, the military, and the police working together, the fires can be put out,” Riduan told reporters. “However, as of right now, the fires are still burning. So what can we hope for? Our greatest hope is that Almighty God will bring us rain soon.”