21 October 2026 (Iklik News) – A new report by Indonesian environmental group Trend Asia says fire hotspots in Indonesia increased more than fivefold in 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, linking many of the fires to corporate concessions for mining, palm oil and forestry.
The report, Smoke for the People, Profit for the Few: Where Indonesia’s Fires Burn, Who Holds the Land, and Where the Commodities Go, was released on October 6 during a media briefing at Bangkok Climate Week. The event was held in collaboration with CELIOS and the Global Environmental Forum.
Trend Asia’s bioenergy campaigner, Amalya Reza, said 32,021 hotspots were detected between January and August 2026, compared with 5,961 during the same period in 2025.
The report analyzed 34,933 high-confidence hotspots recorded between January 2024 and August 2026. It found that 80 percent were concentrated in ten provinces with significant extractive industries. Up to 56 percent were located within corporate concessions: 27 percent in mining areas, 20 percent in oil-palm concessions and 15 percent in forestry concessions.
The report also found that six of the ten forestry concessions with the most hotspots in 2026 had had their permits frozen or revoked. The three highest-ranking concessions, which together accounted for 275 hotspots, still held valid permits. It also noted recurring fires on land held by some companies with sustainability certifications, including PEFC.
Between January 2024 and July 2026, Indonesia exported US$221.4 billion worth of mining, palm-oil and forestry products to 169 countries. More than 75.4 percent of the export value went to G20 countries. China accounted for 46.8 percent, followed by India at 13.3 percent, Japan at 6.8 percent and South Korea at 4 percent.
“The energy transition is being built on the same land governance that set the country on fire,” said Amalya Oktaviani of Trend Asia.
She called for stronger corporate accountability, a halt to new extractive concessions, greater transparency over land and export data, and action by international buyers to avoid products linked to land burning.
“If buyers don’t stop buying from corporations that burn the forest, it will always create a demand that justifies those forest fires,” she said.
CELIOS executive director Bhima Yudhistira said financial institutions also help support extractive industries, including woody biomass plantations used for co-firing in coal-fired power plants. He urged global financial institutions to be held accountable at the upcoming IMF–World Bank meetings.
“We cannot allow international development funds to continue financing co-firing biomass and greenwashing initiatives that directly fuel destructive forest fires, displace vulnerable communities, and undermine genuine climate action,” he said.
Paritta Wangkiat, editor-in-chief of Mekong Eye, said regional agricultural trade contributes to open-field burning and cross-border haze across the Mekong region. She pointed to commodities including natural rubber, palm oil, maize and sugarcane, and called for regulations that protect forests while accounting for smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.
Sayoko Iinuma of the Tokyo-based Global Environmental Network said supply-chain regulations can help make companies accountable for the environmental impacts of the goods they import. She cited the No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) principles, which she said have had some success in limiting Japanese companies’ purchases of palm oil linked to fires and deforestation.
“Regulations on the supply-chain end should be strengthened to serve as a powerful tool to prevent destructive practices downstream,” she said.
Journalist: Zevonia Vieira
