A report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) indicates that pollution caused 5,310 deaths in Indonesia during September. These fatalities were driven by a combination of industrial emissions and widespread wildfires.
The 5,310 deaths linked to September's toxic air
The scale of the public health crisis in Indonesia is starkly quantified in the recent assessment by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). According to the CREA report, 5,310 people died in September due to hazardous air quality, with 3,560 of those deaths directly attributed to PM2.5 particulate matter emitted by forest and peatland fires. an additional 1,750 deaths were linked to non-fire sources, including vehicular traffic, industrial activities, and power generation.
The impact extended far beyond the death toll, as the study estimates that nearly 58 million Indonesians were exposed to hazardous or unhealthy air levels during that single month. This suggests a systemic failure to protect the population from airborne toxins that have become a recurring seasonal threat across the archipleago.
Why Kalimantan hit 24 times the WHO pollution limit
The distribution of this pollution reveals a geographic divide between fire-driven smog and industrial emissions. In the eastern Borneo region of Kalimantan, PM2.5 concentrations reached levels 24 times higher than the annual guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). on a national scale, average concentrations surpassed those WHO guidelines by more than sevenfold, creating a lethal environment in the hard-hit zones of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo.
In contrast, the pollution profile of Java's capital, Jakarta, was dominated by industrial and urban sources. The CREA analysis notes that in Jakarta, non-fire related pollutants were projected to be responsible for between 73 and 80 per cent of the city's 1,530 pollution-related fatalities. This distinction highlights that while wildfires are a seasonal catastrophe, the industrial baseline in Indonesia's most populous regions remains chronically deadly.
How El Niño and 1.9 million hectares of lost forest fueled the haze
The current crisis is the result of a perfect storm of climatic conditions and corporate negligence. Data from the Nusantara Atlas shows that more than 1.9 million hectares of forest were destroyed over the last nine months. This devastation was accelerated by a rolling drought and the El Niño weather pattern, which created an environment highly susceptible to combustion.
The fires are not merely natural accidents; the report identifies slash-and-burn practices employed by mining, palm-oil, and timber enterprises as primary drivers. This pattern of land clearing reflects a broader regional trend where economic expansion in the commodities sector takes precedence over ecological stability.. The drainage of peatlands has rendered these areas volatile, turning them into fuel sources that send toxic haze across borders into Malaysia, Singapore, East Timor, and the Philippines.
Whether 72,000 personnel can offset industrial pollution in Java
The Indonesian government has responded with a massive mobilization of resources, deploying over 72,000 personnel for firefighting and cloud-seeding operations. To manage the immediate health fallout, the state activated 2,100 medical workers and distributed 5.3 million masks to the public. However, these measures are reactive rather than preventative.
Significant questions remain regarding the government's willingness to move beyond emergency response. while the state frames itself as a defender of public health,the CREA report suggests that without stricter emission controls on vehicles and factories—particularly in Java—and robust legal enforcement against the concession holders responsible for illegal burning, the cycle will repeat. It remains unclear whether the Indonesian administration will actually hold the timber and palm-oil giants accountable or continue to rely on masks and cloud-seeding to mitigate a man-made disaster.
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