Officials of regional disaster management agency try to douse a peat land forest fire, in Pekanbaru, in Riau province, on July 31, 2019. - AFP pic
PEKANBARU (AFP): The number of blazes in Indonesia's rainforests has jumped sharply, satellite data showed Thursday (Sept 12), spreading smog across South-East Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming.
Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands of security forces to tackle them.
