Biggest Forest Fire in Indonesia: Causes and Effects

Indonesia has a long and complicated history of forest fires. Wildfires are an annual disaster in this country. However, many of them are not damaging. Meanwhile, others burnt millions of hectares of forest and took a long time to be quenched. The first biggest forest fire in Indonesia occurred in 1997.

However, it is not the last damaging wildfire in this country. In the previous 25 years, Indonesia has experienced several large forest fires since 1997. The top three biggest forest fires in this country are as follows.

1997: The Biggest Forest Fire in Indonesia

In 1997, there was a forest fire group in Indonesia. It was the biggest and most damaging wildfires ever happened in this country. The fire started in the middle of 1997 and ended in 1998. According to some reports, this forest fire lasted 7 months.

Moreover, the fire was not only in one forest or one location. The 1997 Indonesian forest fires occurred on Kalimantan Island and Sumatra Island. Both are the largest islands in this country.  

1. Causes and Factors Fueling the Fire

One of the causes of the Indonesian forest fires 1997 was changing land use. At that time, the locals used fire to clear the land. After opening the land, they transformed it into an oil palm plantation or another fast-growing tree plantation.

The locals also burned abandoned farmlands in Kalimantan and Sumatera islands. In addition, they drained large peatlands on Kalimantan for plantations. The government also dried swamps to create rice paddies in this area. 

The forest burning and peatland/swamp draining practices might not cause a massive group of forest fires if El Niño did not strike the country. During this weather, forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra suffered from severe drought. Therefore, it worsened the fire.

2. Effects

The biggest forest fire in Indonesia damaged over 9.7 million hectares of forest. The smoke from this fire caused severe air pollution in Indonesia and neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

Reports said air pollution caused by the forest fires increased child deaths in those countries. This condition also caused health problems for those living in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

The haze of the Indonesian forest fire also affected visibility. According to a report, a flight crashed in one of Sumatra’s airports due to low visibility. The airplane crash caused a death toll of over 230 people.

Moreover, the wildfire caused regional tension between Indonesia and Southeast Asian Countries. Due to this fire, the country suffered an economic loss of 4.4 billion USD.

2015 Forest Fires

Eighteen years after the 1997 forest fire, Indonesia experienced another damaging wildfire. Authorities found hotspots in most Indonesian provinces. However, most of them were in Sumatra and Kalimantan. 

1. Causes

Since the biggest forest fire in Indonesia occurred, the government had forbidden the locals to burn forests and dry peatlands to open new plantations. The Indonesian government was also against illegal logging.

However, those practices were still common in Kalimantan and Sumatra Island in 2015. Consequently, the forest fire went uncontrolled.

2. Effects

That year, the wildfire damaged over 2,6 million hectares of land, a large portion of it was peatland. This disaster also damaged the natural habitat of many flora and fauna species. 

In addition, the 2015 forest fire worsened the air pollution in this country. The wildfire also resulted in a haze crisis in Indonesia and neighboring countries.

The haze from the forest fire was not only full of carbon dioxide, but it was also full of dust or ash. Therefore, many people in Indonesia suffered respiratory problems and eye irritations due to haze exposure that year.

Reports said the haze led to over 2,000 premature deaths. Moreover, the 2015 forest fire caused the country to experience a huge economic loss. This is because the wildfire did not only affect forestry and agricultural industries but also the tourism, transportation, and healthcare industries.

2023 Forest Fires

In 2023, Indonesia experienced another large forest fire. The fire burnt a large portion of the biggest rainforest in Indonesia. In addition, authorities also found many hotspots in Sumatran’s forests.

Again, the causes of this fire were El Niño and forest burning for new plantations. This time, Indonesia lost over 1.1 million hectares of land, forests, and peatlands. Moreover, the effects of this forest fire were similar to the previous fires.

The biggest forest fire in Indonesia occurred in 1997. This disaster resulted in a damaged environment, increased levels of air pollution, various health problems, and economic loss in Southeast Asia. Hopefully, Indonesia will have a better forest fire warning and mitigation system to prevent and deal with this disaster.