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Resty Woro Yuniar

Indonesia’s wildfires are creeping towards Nusantara, the country’s new capital under construction on Borneo island, challenging its promise of becoming an eco-friendly “smart forest city”.
The Southeast Asian nation is battling what officials call its most intense wildfire season in 11 years. Nearly 202,000 hectares (499,000 acres) of forest and peatland have been razed nationwide from January to June, according to Sipongi, the Indonesian forest ministry’s monitoring platform. Sipongi data shows more than 14,000 hotspots were recorded between August 1 and September 9 – up from 1,033 over the same period last year.
Fires have been detected across more than 400 hectares of the land earmarked for Nusantara in East Kalimantan, which is surrounded by some of the hardest-hit areas.

Nusantara sits on 252,000 hectares of land, only a quarter of which will host governmental offices, civil service housing and commercial infrastructure.
The fires near the site drew direct intervention from President Prabowo Subianto, who instructed officials on Monday to deploy assets to stop the spread. These included water-dropping drones and the use of the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Giuseppe Garibaldi. The ship was donated by Italy and is set to arrive on September 17, the Indonesian Navy said on Tuesday, as cited by state news agency Antara.
Buffer zone blazes
Myrna Asnawati Safitri, the deputy for environment and natural resources at the Nusantara Capital City Authority (OIKN), said that fires were confined to the surrounding development area, roughly 35km (22 miles) from the main construction zone.
“There are currently no hotspots or fires detected in the core governmental area. Air quality has been generally good since July,” Myrna said.
The 199,000-hectare development area was designated as an “environmental buffer and [for] food security”, she said. As OIKN was focusing on building in the centre, “there is no infrastructure development” in the areas affected by the wildfires, Myrna said.
OIKN conducted aerial water bombing operations on Saturday with support from the National Disaster Management Agency and the Indonesian Air Force. Ground efforts are being spearheaded by a rapid response unit made up of OIKN personnel, the Forestry Ministry, local authorities, universities, private firms, NGOs, volunteers and security forces.

Severe drought driven by El Nino conditions had made the fires worse, Myrna said, but human activity also played a major role.
“The main cause of land and forest fires is land clearing by burning,” she said, adding that OIKN had issued strict prohibitions and provided training for 100 local farmers on land management techniques that avoided burning.
Legal action is also under way. Officials have launched criminal prosecutions against one person suspected of illegal burning in Nusantara and sanctioned a plantation company found to have started a fire, requiring the firm to restore the damaged land. Three mining companies operating on the boundary between Nusantara and East Kalimantan province were also reported to the Environment Ministry.
Nationwide, the ministry has temporarily suspended operations for 30 companies across seven provinces whose concessions suffered fires between January and early September.
Flammable foundations
Environmental activists say the crisis was entirely predictable given the site’s location on an area of sensitive wetlands and peatland.
“As an essential ecosystem, it has a crucial hydrological function,” said Wahyu Perdana, a campaigner at peatland restoration NGO Pantau Gambut. “If damaged, two things will happen. During the rainy season, flooding becomes very common. During the dry season, especially during the current extreme El Nino, it becomes very flammable.”
Hotspot counts in neighbouring districts have surged. In Penajam North Paser, hotspots rose from 6 in July to 136 in August, Wahyu said. In Kutai Kartanegara, numbers climbed from 86 to 1,188 over the same period.
Relying solely on water bombing to douse peatland fires was ineffective, Wahyu said, because water sources were limited and the fires smouldered underground. “Water bombing burning peat once or twice will actually increase the potential for the haze to become thicker,” he said.


Urban planning experts like Nirwono Joga of the Urban Studies Centre in Jakarta advocate for large-scale infrastructure solutions to safeguard the site, such as constructing massive hydrological barriers.
“Small retention ponds won’t be enough. When we talk about Nusantara … it must be at minimum the size of lakes or reservoirs, or even large-scale dams,” Nirwono said, noting Kalimantan’s rolling terrain was well suited for artificial reservoirs.
For OIKN, long-term success hinges on strict regulatory enforcement alongside technical mitigation.
“We must strengthen our disaster management system, especially regarding forest and land fires,” Myrna said.
“El Nino is currently very strong, so [mitigation] efforts must be more intensive. We will continue to strengthen prevention efforts, including transforming farming practices to zero-burn agricultural land management. To ensure a deterrent effect, law enforcement is non-negotiable. We are consistent in this.”


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A firefighter sprays water to extinguish a wildfire in East Kalimantan province, Indonesia, in September. Photo: Reuters

A firefighter sprays water on a wildfire in South Sumatra, Indonesia, on Saturday. Photo: EPA

A helicopter drops water on a wildfire burning through a peatland in Jambi province, Indonesia in August. Photo: AP

An excavator digs a trench to create a boundary to prevent a wildfire from spreading in Central Kalimantan, Inonesia in August. Photo: AFP 

A helicopter drops water on a wildfire in Central Java, Indonesia on Friday. Photo: AFP

Malaysia’s air quality turns hazardous as Indonesian wildfires burn

The skyline of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur is seen shrouded in haze from regional wildfires on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters spray water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Satellite data from Nasa’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed dense concentrations of heat signatures in West Kalimantan on Sunday. Image: Handout

A farmer in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province sprays water in an attempt to extinguish wildfires that are burning his palm oil plantation on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Burnt trees lie on the ground at a peatland area affected by wildfires in Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia opens its skies to Malaysian rainmakers as haze crisis deepens

Firefighters extinguish a peatland fire at Tambang in Indonesia’s Riau province on Tuesday. Photo: Wahyudi/AFP

Tourists look at the skyline of Kuala Lumpur shrouded in haze from Indonesia’s wildfires earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

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A helicopter drops water to extinguish a wildfire burning through peatland in Jambi province, Indonesia, on Monday. Photo: BPBD Jambi/AP

Government buildings shrouded in haze in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Massive forest and land fires across parts of Indonesia have sent haze towards the neighbouring nation. Photo: EPA

Junior school students wear face masks at a school in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia on Friday, as a result of widespread forest and land fires. Photo: AFP

A haze-shrouded road in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Thursday. Smoke from widespread forest and land fires has significantly reduced visibility and degraded air quality across the province. Photo: AFP

Indonesia arrests 72 suspected of starting forest fires as haze persists

Smoke billows on Friday as a wildfire rages through a peatland forest in Bulungan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo: BNPB/AP

A man observes the haze from wildfires that blankets Musi River in Palembang, South Sumatra on Sunday. Photo: AP

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The president has ordered water-bombing drones and an aircraft carrier to Kalimantan as 400 hectares burn near Nusantara


The president has ordered water-bombing drones and an aircraft carrier to Kalimantan as 400 hectares burn near Nusantara.


Prabowo Subianto

Wildfires threaten Indonesia’s new capital as carrier ordered in

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The president has ordered water-bombing drones and an aircraft carrier to Kalimantan as 400 hectares burn near Nusantara

The president has ordered water-bombing drones and an aircraft carrier to Kalimantan as 400 hectares burn near Nusantara