INDONESIA’S 2026 forest fires have already released about a tenth of the greenhouse gases generated during the country’s devastating 2015 fire season despite burning for only about a month, NASA said, as worsening haze pushes air quality in parts of Sarawak into the hazardous range.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said severe and widespread drought had fuelled fires both above ground and underground, including in tropical peatlands where fires can smoulder at low temperatures and spread beneath the surface.
The agency said such fires were particularly difficult to detect and extinguish, while their slow-burning nature could generate significant air pollution.
In a Facebook post, NASA said imagery captured by its Aqua satellite on Sept 1 showed smoke covering large parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Red dots on the imagery marked heat anomalies detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), indicating potential fire locations.
NASA cautioned, however, that increasingly dense smoke and cloud cover were making it harder for MODIS to detect fires beneath forest canopies and underground.
“Indonesia, which is home to about 36% of the world’s tropical peatland areas, previously released 1.75 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2015 after fires burned for more than three months.
“As of Sept 2, the fires in 2026, which have been burning for about a month, have already released about 10% of the amount of greenhouse gases released by the fires in 2015,” NASA said.
The scale of the fires has already begun to affect daily life, with schools moving towards remote learning and several flights reportedly experiencing delays.
An ecologist from the University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science said sustained efforts were needed to tackle forest and peatland fires rather than concentrating resources only during El Niño events, when fire risks typically increase.
The expert said a year-round approach was necessary, particularly as increasingly dry weather creates conditions conducive to fires.
The worsening regional haze is also being felt acutely in Sarawak, where the Education Department said it would announce by 2pm on Saturday whether school operations would be affected when the new term begins.
“The method of school operations for Monday (Sept 7) will be announced on Saturday before 2pm.
“Parents and guardians, pupils and school personnel have been advised to follow official updates and directives issued by the ministry and the department,” the department said in a Facebook post on Friday.
The department said the safety and wellbeing of students and education personnel remained a priority, while urging families to monitor their health and that of their children, particularly those with respiratory problems.
It also advised people to reduce outdoor activities and exposure to haze if air quality deteriorated further.
The public was cautioned against spreading or believing unverified information that could cause confusion and anxiety.
According to the Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS), Serian recorded an API reading of 518 at noon on Friday, placing it firmly in the hazardous category.
Kuching recorded 309, also hazardous, while Samarahan registered 281 and Sri Aman 237, both classified as very unhealthy.
API readings of zero to 50 indicate good air quality, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, while readings above 300 are considered hazardous.
API readings are updated hourly from 68 air-quality monitoring stations nationwide. - September 4, 2026
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