Fires in Indonesia have consumed approximately 1.9 million hectares of land during the period from January to the end of September, according to estimates by the "Nusantara Atlas" observatory, which specializes in analyzing satellite imagery and monitoring deforestation.
According to the observatory, the burned area reached 1,916,588 hectares, while the Indonesian government has not yet announced an updated official toll, having reported at the end of July that fires had destroyed 202,000 hectares.
David Gaveau, the founder of the observatory, stated that the announced figures are estimates and are conservative, as they exclude fire hotspots smaller than 6.25 hectares and rely on a methodology aimed at reducing false detections.
He pointed out that thick smog sometimes hindered the capture of satellite images, suggesting that the actual affected area is likely larger than the recorded figures.
The observatory's data showed that the burned areas up to the end of September increased by 38% compared to the same period in 2019. Despite the lack of comparable data with the 2015 fires, Gaveau expected the situation this year to be similar in severity, given the continued rise in the number of fire hotspots.
