Reducing Indonesia wildfires will be challenging as El Niño peaks this month, minister warns

JAKARTA, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Efforts to reduce the wildfires ablaze across Indonesia will be challenging as the El Niño weather phenomenon will peak this month, Raja Juli Antoni, the ​country’s forestry minister, said on Tuesday, adding that the ‌devastation was largely man-made.

Here are the details:

• For weeks Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze from forest and land fires across six provinces in Borneo and Sumatra islands after smoke triggered respiratory illnesses and forced ‌thousands ​of schools to move classes online, including ⁠in neighbouring Malaysia.

• The “super-El ⁠Niño” weather conditions exacerbate the fires, causing drought.

• Hot spots have been reduced across Kalimantan and Sumatra by the end of August, Raja Juli said.

• “Our problems are not over. September ​is the peak of El Niño,” he said. “September is the main fight for us.”

• Wildfires burned about 200,000 hectares (494,210 acres) ⁠of land from January to July, ⁠ministry data showed, increasing from 107,465 burned hectares from ​January to June.

• Raja Juli said the fires were largely deliberately ​set, either by individuals or corporations.

• The ministry has ‌given fines to six forestry permit holders for their alleged roles, adding a criminal probe was possible.

• Satellite imaging has revealed that a total of 42 companies hold concessions with high wildfire ⁠potential, Rizal Irawan, a senior official at the country’s Environment Ministry, said on Monday.

• Authorities have modified the weather to trigger rain and “water ⁠bombed” areas to ‌contain the hot spots and mitigate the ⁠fires, Raja Juli said.

• The Philippines’ environmental bureau ​said haze ‌blanketed Manila on Tuesday, pushing air quality ​to “very unhealthy” ⁠and “acutely unhealthy” levels in some areas.

• The air quality in six areas in Malaysia’s state of Sarawak reached hazardous levels on Tuesday, data from Malaysia’s environmental department showed.

(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Additional reporting by Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing ​by Christian Schmollinger)