An Indonesian peatland monitoring group and environmental advocates are warning that deepening peatland degradation — driven by land reclassification and extractive concessions rather than weather alone — is pushing fire risk across Kalimantan to dangerous levels. Pantau Gambut recorded 9,853 fire hotspots inside peatland hydrological zones (KHG) across the island between January and April 2026, with West Kalimantan accounting for the vast majority (9,270), followed by Central Kalimantan (438) and South Kalimantan (25). Approximately 91% of all detections — around 8,983 points — fell within concession areas: 6,571 within land-use-rights zones and 2,412 inside forest utilisation permit areas.
The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) branches in all three provinces documented structural drivers. Walhi West Kalimantan found that roughly 2.79 million hectares of KHG areas have been reclassified from protected to cultivation status, and cited Ministry of Forestry data showing more than 25,420 hectares burned in the province between January and March 2026 alone. A 67-year-old asthmatic woman died in Mempawah Regency in February following exposure to smoke from nearby peatland fires, though the source presents smoke as a possible contributing factor rather than a confirmed cause. Walhi Central Kalimantan projects fire incidents this year will run roughly 20% above the prior year’s level.
Researchers and advocates also flagged the government’s ongoing rice-field expansion program — a continuation of the food estate initiative — as an escalating threat. Walhi Central Kalimantan found new cultivation encroaching on previously unmanaged peatland in Kapuas and Pulang Pisau districts; the government had targeted 75,000–85,740 hectares of new rice fields in 2025, with around 100,000 hectares reported as available for development and approximately IDR 3 trillion in budget allocated. Forestry academic Kitso Kusin of the University of Palangka Raya traced Central Kalimantan’s structural vulnerability to large-scale canal construction during a 1996–1997 million-hectare agricultural project, which drained peat domes and rendered them chronically fire-prone. Groundwater monitoring by his team from 2004 to 2021 confirmed a direct relationship between falling water tables and fire frequency. In South Kalimantan, Walhi reported that business licences now cover approximately 51% of the province’s total area, steadily eroding peatland buffers that would otherwise regulate both dry-season fire and wet-season flood risk.
Carbon Market Context
- Peat degradation of the scale described here directly destroys soil organic carbon stocks.
- Methodologies available for soil organic carbon crediting — including the Gold Standard SOC Activity Module for Improved Tillage Practices (GOLD-402-1-TILLAGE-V1-0) and the BCarbon Soil Carbon Protocol v3.0 — address land management approaches to building soil carbon stocks, standing in sharp contrast to the drainage-intensive and fire-prone land use patterns documented in this report.
Source
- Cerita fitur Risiko Kebakaran Makin Tinggi Ketika Gambut Kalimantan RusakMongabay Indonesia, published 24 June 2026