Overview
- Indonesian authorities have stepped up airborne cloud-seeding missions and deployed tens of thousands of firefighters and peat re-wetting teams to control severe peat and forest fires that worsened under El Niño.
- Official and independent counts of burned area differ sharply with government figures above 100,000 hectares and the Nusantara Atlas estimate near 285,000 hectares through July, highlighting verification gaps.
- Scientists say seeding can only work when clouds are present and warn that operations at the dry peak of the season may produce little rain and carry high costs.
- Experts and NGOs also raise environmental concerns about repeated dispersal of substances such as silver iodide, the lack of long-term monitoring, and the possibility of shifting rainfall or other regional impacts.
- Environmental groups point to drained and converted peatlands, permissive land permits, and smallholder burning for clearing as the main structural drivers of the fires that must be addressed to prevent recurrence.