JAKARTA: The Indonesian government must keep its guard up against wildfires despite a recent decline in the number of hotspots, with peatland fires still prone to flare up amid persistently hot and dry weather, environmental groups said on Monday.
The Southeast Asian country has been battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with "super El Nino" weather driving up temperatures.
Fire and haze have also caused a spike in the number of respiratory illnesses in Indonesia and shrouded neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore in hazardous smog.
Though Indonesia's Forestry Ministry said the number of hotspots had nearly halved from Friday to Saturday, there was still high potential for peatland fires, said Putra Saptian, a campaigner with the peatland protection group Pantau Gambut.
