Indonesia’s wildfire emissions surge to world’s highest

Indonesia is experiencing a sharp surge in wildfire emissions as fires sweep through drought-stricken forests and peatlands on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, with the country recording the world’s highest carbon dioxide emissions from fires, data showed, Reuters reports.

Fire emissions reached 19.7 million metric tons between September 1 and 7, surpassing Russia and accounting for more than one-third of the global total, according to Fire Emissions Watch, a portal developed by the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitoring service.

Indonesia is among the countries most vulnerable to wildfires, but “super El Niño” conditions have intensified heat and drought, contributing to what authorities describe as the country’s most severe wildfire season in 11 years.

“We do expect to see some fires across the region at this time of year, but with El Niño, it clearly just gives a big enhancement to them,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service in Bonn.

“It's much drier, it's hotter, and when there's ignition, these fires burn in a far more extreme way.”

Copernicus data showed that fire emission intensity exceeded 1,500 kg per square kilometre during the week, more than 10 times Russia’s level. The highest concentrations were recorded in Kalimantan and eastern Sumatra.

Emissions were 273% above the seasonal average, although they remained below the 21.7 million tons recorded during the same period in 2015.

In Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the air quality index reached 394 on September 9, according to IQAir, with readings above 300 considered hazardous.

“One of the aspects with peat fires is if they're burning at low temperatures or underground, they'd be below the detection limit of the sensors, which means we're not actually seeing them,” Parrington said.

“We have to remember that this is still the beginning of the season, and we expect the fires to continue and the emissions to keep increasing, potentially through to the end of October, which is what we saw in 2015,” he added.

By Vafa Guliyeva