The 2026 season offers a practical benchmark: whether earlier information, quicker decisions and closer cooperation can reduce the scale and duration of haze impacts across the region.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s 2026 forest and land fire season is testing whether Southeast Asia can translate its existing haze-control framework into faster and more coordinated action as smoke from fires in Indonesia affects neighboring countries.

The consequences are already visible beyond the areas where fires are burning. On Sept. 3, smoke reduced visibility at Supadio Airport in West Kalimantan to about 100 meters, preventing an aircraft carrying Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni from landing.

By Sept. 5, Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said smoke had reached Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines, including Manila.

Malaysia had already begun cloud-seeding operations in Sarawak and sought permission to use Indonesian airspace.

In Pontianak, schools were still conducting classes online on Sept. 7 because air quality remained dangerous despite rainfall.

The developments show how a fire that begins in one area can quickly affect transportation, public services, and communities farther away.

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Detection matters

The response begins with knowing where fires are and how serious they are. Satellite hotspot data provide an early indication of possible fires, but they do not by themselves establish conditions on the ground.

On Sept. 4, Suharyanto, head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said 61 of 166 hotspots detected by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in West Kalimantan had been verified through field checks as actual fire locations.

He said such verification was necessary before the data could be used as a basis for response.

That distinction affects how resources are deployed. Authorities need to establish whether a detected location is an active fire, its scale, and the conditions around it before determining where personnel and aircraft are most urgently required. A hotspot count alone cannot provide that operational picture.

The challenge is greater in peatland areas, where burning can continue beneath the surface even when conditions visible from above change.

Ground teams are therefore essential for locating, suppressing and cooling fires. Aerial monitoring, water bombing and weather modification can support those efforts, but they serve different functions.

The value of detection ultimately depends on what follows it. Shortening the time between a satellite signal, field verification and intervention can give authorities a better chance of containing fires before their effects widen.

Related news: BNPB urges residents in Kalimantan, Sumatra to monitor air quality



Regional response

That sequence takes on another dimension when smoke reaches neighboring countries. Information about the location and movement of fires then becomes relevant to governments beyond Indonesia.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Vahd Nabyl A Mulachela said Indonesia was continuing communication and coordination with countries in the region and using the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) to address the cross-border effects of the fires.

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC), through its interim office at the ASEAN Secretariat, applied Regional Alert Level 3 on Aug. 26.

Under the arrangement, ASEAN members were required to submit daily situation reports, including smoke-trajectory maps. Indonesia also continued reporting hotspot data, environmental conditions, indications of smoke movement and measures taken to control the fires.

For countries downwind, the usefulness of that information lies in the time it provides to assess potential impacts and prepare appropriate measures. Earlier information can help authorities respond to risks to public health, transport and other activities.

The response in Sarawak shows how that cooperation can move beyond reporting. Malaysia's cloud-seeding operation and its request to use Indonesian airspace required practical coordination between countries responding to related environmental conditions.

Yet the regional architecture is still being strengthened. At its July meeting in Bali, ASEAN noted progress by Indonesia in preparing the legal, operational and monitoring arrangements for the ACC THPC, while urging member states to complete national ratification processes required for the centre's establishment agreement to enter into force.

The current haze episode is thus occurring while ASEAN is using existing arrangements and working to strengthen the institution intended to support them.

Related news: Indonesia coordinates with ASEAN allies as regional haze spreads



Measuring results

The more difficult question is what counts as progress.

For Indonesia, the answer lies in outcomes on the ground: whether fires are identified and contained before they expand, whether suppression efforts limit damage, and whether prevention reduces the recurrence of fires in areas that burn repeatedly.

At the regional level, cooperation is useful when countries have enough advance information to prepare for incoming smoke and when cross-border effects can be addressed before they cause wider disruption.

Individual indicators therefore need to be treated as evidence, not conclusions. Hotspot numbers can show where possible fires are detected, but they do not establish the extent of burning or whether suppression is succeeding.

The number of aircraft deployed shows the scale of an operation, but not its effectiveness. Regional alerts indicate the level of concern, but not the eventual impact.

The same principle should guide the development of the ACC THPC. Its importance will ultimately be reflected in whether countries are better able to anticipate, prepare for and manage transboundary haze when another severe fire season arrives.

Indonesia and ASEAN already have national capabilities and regional arrangements to address the problem. The remaining test is whether those efforts produce measurable results where they matter most: fewer fires spreading, less disruption and less time for haze to impose costs beyond the areas where it originates.

The 2026 season offers a practical benchmark: whether earlier information, quicker decisions and closer cooperation can reduce the scale and duration of haze impacts across the region.



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Editor: M Razi Rahman
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