JAKARTA: For weeks on end, parts of Indonesian Borneo have resembled an Armageddon landscape with masked residents immersed in a putrid, red-brown haze as wildfires devour peatlands near homes and farms.
Burning slowly, mostly under the surface and sometimes for months on end, peatland fires are responsible for much of the dry season haze that this year has tainted air as far afield as Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Peatlands are composed of organic material that does not completely decompose in water-logged conditions and has settled over thousands of years into a layered soil-like substance.
Healthy peatlands are home to diverse plants and trees like nutmeg and durian, and animals that can include endangered orangutans, clouded leopards, Sumatran tigers, sun bears and tapirs.
