As fires ravaged Indonesia in 2023, some positive trends emerged, data show
By Hans Nicholas Jong JAKARTA — 2023 saw the worst fire season in Indonesia since 2019, with an area the size of Qatar going up in flames, according to official government data. A total of 1.16 million hectares (2.87 million acres) of land and forest were burned last year, with an intense El Niño weather pattern a major factor. The fires led to 13,260 hectares (32,800 acres) of primary forest loss, according to data from the University of Maryland available at the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform administered by the World Resources Institute (WRI). These figures, while alarming on their own,...