Massive fires across 1.9 million hectares in Indonesia are testing the credibility of sustainable palm oil certification and threatening orangutans on Borneo.

Satellite analysis by TheTreeMap's Nusantara Atlas found 1.9 million hectares affected by fire across Indonesia between January and September 2026 . That is an area more than three times the size of Bali. More than half of that area was detected in September alone. The nine-month total was 38 per cent higher than the same period in 2019, the worst fire year in the monitoring record. The Guardian reports that 2.88 million hectares have been blackened so far in 2026 . That would surpass the 2.6 million hectares burnt in 2015.

Scientists with World Weather Attribution found global heating raised temperatures by 1.6C during the peak fire season from August to October . El Niño added a further 0.3C and reduced rainfall by about 50 per cent. Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said: "El Niño turned off the taps, but fossil fuel emissions turned up the heat." Decades of logging, agroforestry expansion and peatland-draining also contributed to the conditions, according to Pramudhian Firdaus, a meteorologist at Melbourne University.

On 8 October, three siblings aged eight, 11 and 18 were killed in Pontian, Johor, when their motorcycle collided with a lorry . The younger children had insisted on checking whether their school was closed because of the haze. In Johor alone, more than 1,000 schools serving some 600,000 pupils suspended face-to-face classes for at least 10 days. Malaysian youth activist Aidil Iman Aidid asked at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil conference in Jakarta on 3 and 4 November: "How do you explain to a six-year-old child about forest fires and transboundary haze pollution?"

In Indonesia, wildfire smoke has choked many cities . The health ministry reports at least 400,000 related respiratory infections, including 180,000 children. The toxic smog has spread as far as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Singapore passed amendments on 4 November strengthening its 2014 Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, raising the maximum fine to S$20 million . The city-state's National Environment Agency sought information from 10 Singapore-registered companies. It issued preventive measures notices to another 10 companies in Indonesia, including several involved in palm oil production. RSPO Chief Executive Joseph D'Cruz welcomed the inquiries, saying they could help establish whether companies deliberately started fires.

On Borneo, fires for palm oil plantations threaten the survival of orangutans, according to RTL Nieuws . The Indonesian government has marked 20 companies as possibly responsible. A Reuters study found thousands of hectares burnt on land owned by listed Indonesian firms .

Independent oil palm growers in Indonesia are forming volunteer firefighting groups to clear land without burning . Their efforts depend on support from larger producers, said Guntur Prabowo, the RSPO's Head of Smallholders. D'Cruz said at the Jakarta conference: "We will not rebuild credibility by asking smallholders to carry the cost of sustainable practices alone." Malaysian oil palm farmer Linella Pallai manages a 5.3-hectare farm in Beluran, Sabah. She said haze brings fears for her children's health: "Our children and grandchildren can fall ill."