Peatland Fires and Transboundary Smoke Haze

Peat swamp forests (PSF) under natural conditions are very resistant to fire due to naturally high water tables. They are only vulnerable to above and below ground fires when water levels fall due to drainage or during severe droughts. Once the peat soil has been drained it is very vulnerable to fire. In the past 10 years approximately 2.5 million ha of peatland in the region has burnt in major fires, releasing an estimated 2-3 billion tonnes of stored carbon to the atmosphere and blanketing the SE Asia region in dense clouds of smoke. The smoke resulting from the fires stretched over one million square kilometres for up to six months, adversely affecting the health of up to 70 million people (Moore, 2002). In terms of losses to production (reduction in crop yields, fishing efforts, and industrial and commercial activities), tourism, airline and airport, as well as the averting expenditures for haze control, it was estimated that the haze between August and October 1997 caused by the forest fires in Indonesia resulted in a loss of US$300 million to Malaysia (Mohd Shahwahid & Jamal, 1999) and up to US$9 billion in the SE Asia region for the whole 1997-98 fire season.

Since 1997-98 there have been regular peat fires in the region whenever there is a dry period of more than 2-3 weeks. These fires have been extensive in the El Niño year of 2002 and indications are that 2005 (an El Niño year) will also have severe fires with extensive peatland fires in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei from January to February and predicted in July to September.

Peat fires following anthropogenic peatland drainage are globally important, with a current estimated annual CO₂ emission of 1.5 Gt. Whereas peatland fires in many regions of the world have played an important role in natural peatland dynamics (Brown 1990, Kangas 1990, Paijmans 1990, Kuhry 1994, Frost 1995, Zoltai et al. 1998), human activities have severely increased their frequency, intensity and extent. Page et al. (2002) estimate that the 1997 fire season led to an emission to the atmosphere of between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon from peatland fires in Indonesia. CO₂ emissions due to peatland fires in Indonesia over 1997-2006 are estimated to be between a lower estimate of 1.4 Gt yr-1 to possibly as much as 4.3 Gt yr-1 (Hooijer et al. 2006).

For information regarding fire and haze issue in South East Asia, visit 

• The Haze Online by the ASEAN Secretariat for latest news and report entitled Haze Watch
• The latest haze map and hotspot map generated by the National Environment Agency of Singapore
• The South East Asia Fire Danger Rating System
• Malaysian Fire Danger Rating System by the Malaysia Meteorological Service