Background

The impacts of the toxic smoke from Indonesian peatland and forest fires have generated considerable concern from multiple sectors. The associated costs include global impacts on climate and ecosystem services; regional, national and local effects on health; and direct and indirect economic losses. With 43 million people exposed to hazardous air pollutants and 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent emitted into the atmosphere, the 2015 fires prompted President Joko Widodo to declare a national state of emergency and commit to fire prevention to avert a repeat performance. In January 2016, he inaugurated the Peatland Restoration Agency with the specific remit of restoring two million hectares of drained peatlands in the next five years.