Indonesia's damaged peatlands are burning again. By early October 2026, fire emissions from the country had reached 140.5 megatonnes of carbon, about 13% of the global total for the year, according to Copernicus. Most of the damage is tied to decades of drainage for plantations, which dries out the peat and turns it into fuel for smoldering zombie fires that are hard to extinguish. The haze is not just an air quality problem. It is a carbon accounting problem and a test of whether restoration efforts actually work. The government says it has re-wetted 4.16 million hectares and built 45,000 canal barriers, but Greenpeace points to hotspots in restored areas. A new Peatland and Mangrove Management agency is being set up, though activists worry its mandate could open the door to new concessions rather than protection.
