Wildfires on Indonesia’s portion of Borneo island have intensified, threatening the habitats of endangered orangutans and displacing wildlife across the region. The fires, which have persisted since late July, have driven thousands of schools to shift to online learning due to hazardous haze conditions.

Orangutan populations on Borneo have suffered steep declines over recent decades, with numbers dropping by more than half in the past 60 years. Habitat loss—driven primarily by logging and hunting—has reduced their living areas by at least 55 percent in the last 20 years. Now restricted exclusively to Borneo, which is shared territorially by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei, the species faces fresh threats from the ongoing wildfires.

In July, conservationists rescued a male orangutan named Wak near Kuala Tolak village in Ketapang after the animal was found wandering into a fruit plantation. Local resident Morsali explained that the orangutan had left its habitat “because its habitat has been disturbed” and was seeking food and shelter in response to unsafe conditions.

Authorities in Indonesia have remained on high alert to contain the fires and mitigate environmental damage, aiming to prevent a repeat of the severe 2015 wildfire season that caused widespread destruction throughout the archipelago. In efforts to control the blaze and curtail the spread of smoke, officials have deployed cloud-seeding operations alongside firefighting aircraft across five provinces on Borneo. The island’s extensive peatlands, known to be highly susceptible to fires, have been primary zones of concern.

Meteorological data indicates that average temperatures in July reached their highest levels in 35 years, contributing to the increased fire risk. As a result, the combination of heat and dry conditions has exacerbated the scale and intensity of the wildfires, further endangering the region’s biodiversity and complicating firefighting efforts. Authorities continue coordinated responses to contain the blazes and protect both human populations and vulnerable wildlife, including the critically endangered orangutans.