Indonesia’s Forest Fires Left Out of New $100 Million South America Fund, Sparking Calls for Inclusion
A newly launched multi-million-dollar international fund designed to combat devastating forest fires across South America has completely excluded Southeast Asia, leaving nations like Indonesia vulnerable and searching for answers amid severe seasonal blazes.
The $100 Million South America Fire Fund Leaves Indonesia Out
Two American charities announced a brand new fund at the United Nations General Assembly aimed at helping countries spot forest fires earlier and extinguish them faster. The initiative carries a target of raising US$100 million. However, the geographic scope is strictly limited to South America, keeping the Amazon rainforest and neighboring biomes at the center while bypassing Southeast Asia entirely.
Renaissance Philanthropy and Conservation X Labs lead the nonprofit effort. Substantial financial backing launched the project in New York during a major annual climate meeting, featuring a $30 million contribution from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation alongside an additional $5 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
The operational framework intends to replicate proven strategies, pointing to tools like a camera network deployed in Brazil capable of spotting smoke early and a dedicated team of Indigenous firefighters in Bolivia that has maintained operations for 15 years.
Devastating Toll of 2024 Blazes Across Indonesian Provinces
Indonesia faces an urgent need for these precise intervention models. Government data indicates that fires consumed more than 202,000 hectares of land between January and June alone, followed by an additional 95,000 hectares burned during the single month of July.
Within just half a year, the country lost a landmass nearly three times the geographic size of Singapore. Thick smoke choked West Kalimantan, obscuring the city of Pontianak so severely that aerial visibility dropped dramatically, forcing school closures and flight delays. The cross-border smog also severely impacted air quality for residents in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines.
Financial and health tolls have mounted sharply. According to the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), a Jakarta-based research group, fires between January and August inflicted economic losses ranging from 40 to 123 trillion rupiah in disrupted business activities and healthcare expenses. For historical context, the World Bank calculated that the catastrophic 2015 fires cost Indonesia $16 billion—more than double the funds required to rebuild Aceh following the 2004 tsunami.
Peatland Vulnerability and the Complicating Factor of El Niño
Combating these blazes remains extraordinarily difficult due to the unique nature of Indonesian terrain. A primary driver is peat, a soft, saturated soil composed of accumulated organic plant matter built up over thousands of years. Indonesia accounts for roughly 36% of the entire world’s tropical peat.
Once peat dries out, fires can spread underground below the reach of water dropped from aircraft. This year, cyclical El Niño conditions—shifts in ocean temperatures that trigger extended dry spells across the region—have severely intensified drought conditions.
Bambang Hero Saharjo, who leads a fire management center for Southeast Asia, asked the world to help Indonesia put out its fires.
But help rarely comes to a country that waits quietly for it.
Global Funding Gaps and the Argument for Cross-Continental Cooperation
Critics of the regional restriction point to broader global funding shortfalls. A United Nations report released the same week as the fund’s announcement revealed that the world requires an additional $66.8 billion by 2030 to properly protect tropical forests, whereas only $14.6 billion was spent in 2023.
Nearly 80% of the planet’s remaining rainforests concentrate in three distinct zones: the Amazon, Africa’s Congo Basin, and Borneo, the shared island split between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Establishing a dedicated fire prevention mechanism for only one of these regions leaves the others dangerously exposed.
Proponents of expanding the fund argue that Indonesia brings three decades of specialized experience in fighting peatland fires. The Indonesian Forestry Ministry monitors hotspots nearly in real-time utilizing American satellite feeds, meaning bilateral knowledge exchanges could yield mutual benefits for South American and Southeast Asian nations alike.
Next Steps for Jakarta and the Path to Regional Accountability
Human activity remains the root cause of most Indonesian fires, with agricultural operators and commercial enterprises frequently utilizing slash-and-burn clearing methods as the cheapest technique to prepare land for palm oil cultivation, other crops, or mining operations.
To break this cycle, the executive director of CELIOS, Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, and the director of the China-Indonesia and MENA-Indonesia desks at CELIOS, Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, contend that Jakarta must proactively engage international stakeholders rather than wait passively.
Recommended diplomatic measures involve the Indonesian Forestry and Foreign Ministries contacting the fund’s leadership before the conclusion of the year. By offering a modest financial contribution to demonstrate commitment and inviting neighboring Malaysia and Brunei to join forces, Jakarta can position Borneo as a unified front demanding equal access to international climate protection resources.
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