Indonesia's forest and land fires are often described as a problem of burning vegetation. But some of the country's most difficult fires are not simply burning across the surface.
They are burning inside the peat.
These peatland fires are part of a broader environmental challenge explored in Indonesia's wildfire crisis and its far-reaching impacts, which examines the causes of forest and land fires, the resulting haze, and their consequences for public health, biodiversity, and the environment.
Peatlands are wetlands where dead plants accumulate over thousands of years under waterlogged conditions. Because decomposition is slow, layers of organic material can become extremely thick. When peatlands remain wet, they store enormous amounts of carbon and resist fire.
Once peatlands are drained and dried, however, that same carbon-rich material can become highly combustible.
This helps explain why Indonesia's fires can continue smoldering underground, produce thick smoke, and remain difficult to extinguish even after surface flames disappear.
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| Indonesia's Peatlands Burning Photo by greenpeace.org |
What Are Peatlands?
Peatlands are ecosystems where partially decomposed organic matter accumulates because waterlogged conditions slow decomposition.
They occur in many parts of the world, but Indonesia contains some of the world's most important tropical peatlands, particularly across Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua.
Healthy peatlands are usually wet.
That water is not a minor feature. It is one of the ecosystem's most important defenses against fire.
When peat remains saturated, it is difficult to ignite. When the water table falls, the organic material becomes exposed to oxygen and drying.
The result is a landscape that can become increasingly vulnerable to fire.
According to the UN Environment Programme, peatlands are among the world's most important carbon-storing ecosystems despite covering a relatively small proportion of the global land surface.
Their importance therefore extends far beyond Indonesia.
Why Does Peat Burn So Easily Once It Dries?
The central problem is drainage.
Peatlands have historically been modified for agriculture, plantations, settlements and other forms of land use. Drainage canals are often constructed to lower the water table and make wet areas easier to cultivate.
This creates a fundamental environmental trade-off.
Land that was naturally wet becomes drier.
Once peat dries, it can become vulnerable to ignition.
Unlike ordinary vegetation fires, peat fires can move through underground layers. The fire may therefore continue beneath apparently quiet ground.
This creates one of the most dangerous characteristics of peatland fires:
A fire can disappear from view without actually being extinguished.
Peat Fires Are Different From Ordinary Forest Fires
A surface forest fire mainly consumes vegetation above the ground.
A peat fire can burn below the surface.
This difference has major consequences.
A surface fire may be visible from aircraft or satellites as flames and smoke. A peat fire can smolder for long periods while producing persistent smoke.
It can also spread through underground peat layers and reappear later.
That makes peat fires:
- difficult to detect at ground level
- difficult to extinguish completely
- capable of producing prolonged smoke
- capable of releasing large amounts of carbon
- capable of reigniting after appearing to be under control
This is one reason Indonesia's haze crises can persist even after major surface fires have been reduced.
Why Land Clearing Can Increase Fire Risk
Fire has historically been used in some parts of Southeast Asia as a relatively inexpensive land-clearing method.
But burning vegetation is particularly dangerous when it occurs on drained peatlands.
Once peat has been dried, an ignition source can spread beyond the intended clearing area.
What begins as a land-clearing fire can therefore become a much larger landscape fire.
The risk becomes greater when several conditions occur simultaneously:
- Peat has been drained.
- Vegetation and organic material have accumulated.
- Rainfall is low.
- The water table falls.
- Temperatures remain high.
- Strong winds or dry conditions help fire spread.
- Fire is deliberately or accidentally introduced.
This combination can transform a manageable ignition into a major wildfire event. When land clearing occurs on drained peatlands, the consequences can extend beyond individual fire events. Understanding the relationship between forest loss and land-use change helps explain how landscape modification can increase fire vulnerability and contribute to long-term environmental damage.
Why Peat Fires Produce So Much Haze
One of the defining characteristics of Indonesian peat fires is smoke.
Incomplete combustion of organic material can release large quantities of fine particulate matter and other pollutants.
Among the most concerning is PM2.5, tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the respiratory system.
During severe fire seasons, smoke can affect communities far from the original fire.
The problem is therefore not limited to the location where the fire started.
A fire in Sumatra or Kalimantan can contribute to regional haze depending on wind patterns and atmospheric conditions.
This is why Indonesia's peat fires can become an international environmental issue.
The Climate Connection
Peatlands contain carbon accumulated over very long periods.
When peat burns, some of that stored carbon is released into the atmosphere.
This creates a climate problem in two ways.
First, fire destroys an ecosystem that naturally stores carbon.
Second, combustion releases carbon that had previously remained locked away in the peat.
The relationship can therefore become a vicious cycle:
Drainage → drying → fire risk → carbon emissions → climate pressure → greater fire risk.
Climate change does not automatically cause every Indonesian peat fire.
Human land management remains critical.
But hotter and drier conditions can increase the likelihood that a landscape already made vulnerable by drainage will burn.
El Niño and Indonesian Peatland Fires
One important climate factor is El Niño.
During strong El Niño events, parts of Indonesia can experience substantially drier conditions.
That does not create fires by itself.
An ignition source is still required.
But drought can reduce moisture, lower peat water levels and make landscapes more flammable.
This is why fire risk often becomes particularly serious when human ignition meets prolonged dry weather.
The distinction matters.
It is inaccurate to say:
El Niño causes Indonesian forest fires.
A better explanation is:
El Niño can create conditions that make already vulnerable landscapes much more susceptible to fire.
That distinction is important for understanding prevention.
Why Peat Fires Are So Difficult to Extinguish
Fighting a peat fire is not simply a matter of putting out visible flames.
Firefighters must address the underground source.
Water may need to penetrate the peat to cool burning material below the surface. Large areas may also need to be monitored after apparent extinguishment because hot spots can remain underground.
This creates enormous logistical challenges.
Fire crews may need to:
- identify underground hot spots
- pump large amounts of water
- reopen or manage water channels
- restore moisture
- patrol burned areas
- prevent reignition
- protect nearby communities
- coordinate aerial and ground operations
In remote peatlands, these operations can be especially difficult.
The geography itself becomes part of the firefighting problem.
Why Rewetting Peatlands Matters
One of the most important long-term strategies is peatland rewetting.
The basic idea is simple:
If drainage caused peat to dry, restoring water levels can reduce fire vulnerability.
Indonesia has developed peatland restoration programs that include measures such as canal blocking, water management, revegetation and community-based restoration.
The goal is not simply to plant trees.
It is to restore the ecological conditions that make peatlands naturally wet.
This distinction is crucial.
A peatland with trees but a severely lowered water table can remain vulnerable to fire.
Restoration therefore needs to consider the entire hydrological system.
Restoration Is More Than Planting Trees
Reforestation is often presented as the solution to environmental degradation.
For peatlands, that approach is incomplete.
A healthy peat ecosystem depends heavily on water.
Restoration may therefore involve:
Rewetting → revegetation → fire prevention → community management.
These measures work together.
If peat remains dry, newly planted vegetation can still be exposed to fire.
If water levels are restored but surrounding land management remains unsafe, ignition risks can remain.
If communities are excluded from restoration programs, local economic pressures can undermine long-term results.
Effective peatland restoration therefore requires both ecological and social solutions.
The Role of Local Communities
Millions of people live in or around landscapes affected by land-use change.
For that reason, peatland protection cannot depend entirely on government agencies or firefighting teams.
Local communities are essential to early detection and prevention.
Community-based approaches can include:
- fire monitoring
- early warning systems
- sustainable agriculture
- alternative land-clearing methods
- village fire brigades
- peat-friendly livelihoods
- local water management
The key question is not simply:
How do we stop people from using fire?
It is also:
How do we give communities practical alternatives that are economically viable?
That is a much more difficult question, but also a more sustainable one.
Palm Oil and Peatlands
Palm oil is frequently mentioned in discussions about Indonesian forest and peatland fires.
The relationship, however, requires nuance.
Palm oil itself does not automatically cause fires.
The environmental risk is connected to where and how land is converted, drained and managed.
Plantations established on drained peatlands can alter hydrology and increase vulnerability to fire.
Illegal land clearing and uncontrolled burning can further increase risks.
This is why discussions about palm oil should focus not only on the commodity but also on:
- land-use planning
- peatland protection
- plantation management
- supply-chain transparency
- fire prevention
- enforcement
These issues demonstrate why palm oil production and peatland management need to be considered together when assessing fire risk, land conversion, and the long-term protection of carbon-rich ecosystems.
Why Fire Prevention Is Better Than Firefighting
Once peat starts burning, the environmental and economic costs can become enormous.
Firefighters may need thousands of personnel, aircraft, water bombing operations and extensive ground teams.
But these measures mainly respond to the consequence.
Prevention addresses the underlying vulnerability.
That means managing peatland water levels before the dry season, monitoring high-risk areas, preventing illegal burning and maintaining rapid-response systems.
In other words:
The cheapest peat fire to fight is the one that never starts.
Technology Can Help Detect Fires Earlier
Satellite monitoring has become an important part of Indonesia's fire-management system.
Satellites can identify thermal anomalies and help authorities locate potential hotspots across large and remote areas.
But satellite hotspots are not equivalent to confirmed fires.
Cloud cover, agricultural activity, industrial heat sources and other factors can affect interpretation.
This is why satellite information works best when combined with:
- ground verification
- weather data
- fire danger indices
- aerial observation
- local reports
- historical fire maps
The objective is not simply to count hotspots.
It is to understand where fire is developing, why it is developing and how quickly it can spread.
Indonesia's Peatlands Are a Global Environmental Issue
The importance of Indonesia's peatlands extends beyond national borders.
Peat fires can affect:
- Indonesia's air quality
- public health
- biodiversity
- carbon emissions
- agriculture
- transportation
- regional haze
- neighboring countries
This makes peatland management part of a broader international environmental conversation.
Indonesia's experience also offers a wider lesson.
Wetlands that appear economically difficult to use can become extremely valuable when their ecological functions are properly understood.
Their value is not always visible in conventional economic statistics.
Water regulation, carbon storage, biodiversity and fire prevention are all forms of environmental infrastructure.
What Can Indonesia Do?
Reducing peatland fires requires a long-term strategy rather than a seasonal emergency response.
Several priorities stand out.
1. Keep Peatlands Wet
Maintaining high enough water levels is one of the most important ways to reduce fire vulnerability.
2. Protect High-Risk Peat Areas
Some peatlands should not be converted for intensive land use.
3. Improve Fire Monitoring
Satellite systems, drones, ground teams and local reporting can work together to identify fires earlier.
4. Strengthen Land-Use Enforcement
Illegal clearing and deliberate burning need effective investigation and enforcement.
5. Support Local Communities
Fire prevention becomes more realistic when communities have economically viable alternatives.
6. Improve Plantation Management
Companies operating in peatland landscapes need strong water-management and fire-prevention systems.
7. Restore Damaged Peatlands
Rewetting and ecological restoration can reduce long-term fire vulnerability.
8. Prepare Before the Dry Season
The most important firefighting decisions often happen before the first major fire begins.
The Bigger Lesson From Indonesia's Peat Fires
Indonesia's peatland fires are not simply a story about flames.
They are a story about water, land use, climate, economics and governance.
When peatlands are kept wet, they can function as highly valuable ecosystems.
When they are drained, degraded and exposed to ignition, the same landscapes can become sources of dangerous smoke and major carbon emissions.
That is why solving Indonesia's wildfire problem requires more than sending aircraft to extinguish flames.
It requires changing the conditions that allow those fires to become so difficult to control in the first place.
The long-term solution is therefore not simply to fight fire better.
It is to build landscapes that are harder to burn.