Satellite analysis shows that severe El Nino-driven forest fires in Indonesia have burned through 2.88 million hectares so far in 2026, exceeding previous record burn areas and sending haze into neighboring nations.
JAKARTA: Fires in Indonesia driven partly by a strong El Nino have burned through 2.88 million hectares (7.1 million acres) so far in 2026, a monitor analysing satellite imagery told AFP on Wednesday.
The burned area figure — 18 times the size of London — has increased nearly a million hectares since deforestation monitoring site Nusantara Atlas’s last update in September.
Indonesia’s government has not provided official figures for areas burned since announcing 202,000 hectares had been razed by the end of July.
