Airlangga Speaks Out on Kalimantan Forest Fires
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has highlighted the need to address the forest fire disaster in Kalimantan, warning that it risks affecting the lives and economy of local communities.
“The economic impact in the region is significant, because economic activity is disrupted. Plus, there needs to be a response to the forest and land fires,” Airlangga told reporters at his office in Jakarta on Friday (21/8/2026).
Airlangga noted that the forest and land fires have been triggered by the effects of El Niño.
The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has explained the cause of the emergence of forest and land fire hotspots.
The hotspots have occurred partly because of the extremely dry climate conditions resulting from El Niño. These dry conditions have made land easy to burn and produced large amounts of smoke.
“The dry climate conditions have created a situation where land is being burned and there is a lot of smoke,” said BMKG Deputy for Climatology Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, as quoted by Detikcom.
Ardhasena also explained the monitoring results as of August 2026, which show El Niño at a very strong intensity.
“Monitoring results for the first ten-day period of August 2026 show a ten-day IOD index (monthly index) of +0.457 (July: +0.242). Meanwhile, the SSTA value in the Nino3.4 region on a ten-day basis (monthly ENSO) is +2.77 (July: +2.20), indicating El Niño with very strong intensity,” he explained.
Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Centre, Berton SP Panjaitan, stated that the forest and land fire task force, including both ground and air teams, continues to work to extinguish fires in several affected provinces.
“However, so far there have been no airport closures due to the forest and land fires,” Berton said in a written statement to CNBC Indonesia.
As is widely known, the island of Kalimantan is covered in red circle markers on Google Maps. The red dots, labelled ‘severe fire’, appear scattered across various parts of Kalimantan, with the highest concentration in South Kalimantan.
Based on CNBC Indonesia’s monitoring on Thursday (20/8/2026), the red dots are spread widely across the entire island of Kalimantan, from North Kalimantan to South Kalimantan.
Forest and land fires are not a new issue in Indonesia. Historical records show that this ecological disaster has repeatedly struck Sumatra and Kalimantan, causing enormous economic losses and cross-border health crises.