This archive report was first published on 25 September 2019.
Published on September 25, 2019, nearly 2,000 wildfires are burning across Indonesia, causing widespread destruction and respiratory problems for nearly a million people.
The blazes, which tore through sensitive rain forests where dozens of endangered species live, have drawn comparisons to the devastating wildfires in the Amazon basin that have destroyed more than 2 million acres.
By Wednesday, rain had brought some relief in reducing the number of Indonesian hot spots to fewer than 1,800, down from over 3,300 two days earlier.
Towering flames devoured trees and brush in what was once dense jungle, leaving behind a blackened wasteland of charred stumps and bushes.
According to officials, the fires are an annual phenomenon as large plantations and small farmers use the age-old slash-and-burn method during the dry season to open new land for planting.
Neighboring Singapore and Malaysia have complained for decades about the smoke that drifts over from Sumatra and Kalimantan and chokes the region every year at this time.
Greenpeace criticized the government on Tuesday for not taking action against companies that set fires to clear land for planting.
“Stopping this recurring fire crisis should have been at the top of the government’s agenda since 2015,” said Kiki Taufik, the global head of Greenpeace Indonesia’s forests campaign.
Officials said that 14 companies are under investigation for allowing the fires to spread on their land and that more than 300 people have been identified as suspects.
