Fires in Borneo 1997/1998
The island of Borneo was struck by two fire disasters. In 1997 fires in peat swamp forest (yellow dots) produced a cloud of smog extending from Papua New Guinea across the Indonesian archipelago to Malaysia. The fires finally resumed due to the onset of rain in November 1997. EU experts estimated that more than 2 Mio. ha of forests burnt in Central and West Kalimantan in 1997. A second drought period occurred between January and May in East Kalimantan. Within four months fires destroyed more than 5 Mio ha of selectively logged forest and bushland (red dots). Many man-made fires escaped into formerly logged over forests of nearby timber concessions.
Fires in Borneo 1997/1998
The island of Borneo was struck by two fire disasters. In 1997 fires in peat swamp forest (yellow dots) produced a cloud of smog extending from Papua New Guinea across the Indonesian archipelago to Malaysia. The fires finally resumed due to the onset of rain in November 1997. EU experts estimated that more than 2 Mio. ha of forests burnt in Central and West Kalimantan in 1997. A second drought period occurred between January and May in East Kalimantan. Within four months fires destroyed more than 5 Mio ha of selectively logged forest and bushland (red dots). Many man-made fires escaped into formerly logged over forests of nearby timber concessions.