Protect our forests. Deliver real climate action at COP31

Indonesia’s forests and peatlands are still burning, and its toxic haze continue to spread across Southeast Asia.

More than 12.5 million people have been affected by wildfires across seven Indonesian provinces, while smoke has reached Malaysia, Singapore, East Timor, Brunei and the Philippines. Schools have closed or moved online, while communities face dangerous air pollution and rising respiratory illness.

The fires are also destroying critical habitat for Bornean orangutans. Fires are burning in rainforests containing 13 of the 20 largest remaining orangutan populations, and conservation experts warn that thousands more could be killed, injured or displaced without urgent action.

These fires are not simply a natural disaster. Land clearing and drained peatlands make fires more likely and harder to stop, while extreme heat and drought are making the crisis worse. And when peatlands burn, they release huge amounts of stored carbon, adding to the climate crisis.

This November, COP31 will be hosted by Türkiye in Antalya, with Australia leading the negotiations. Both countries know what wildfire costs: Australia lived through the Black Summer fires of 2019-20, and Türkiye saw fires tear through its Mediterranean coast in 2021. They know that prevention is cheaper than a crisis. This is their chance to lead on it.

COP31 must turn climate promises into real action to protect forests, peatlands, and the people and wildlife who depend on them. We call on the Indonesian government, Australia and Türkiye as COP31 Presidencies, and all governments attending COP31 to:

• Protect people from climate impacts. The Indonesian government must strengthen forest and peatland protection and fire prevention. COP31 governments must support restoration and regional cooperation to tackle fires and toxic haze.
• Make polluters pay. Wealthy, high-emitting countries must deliver adequate climate finance for adaptation and loss and damage, including support for communities on the frontlines. Tax fossil fuel corporations’ excess profits to fund climate action.
• Turn climate promises into action. COP31 must secure sustained funding for forest protection, so communities aren’t left facing the consequences of inaction year after year.

Indonesia and Southeast Asia have lived with this crisis for decades. As climate change and El Niño intensify the heat and drought driving these fires, governments cannot keep treating each fire season as business as usual.

Sources:

- Indonesian wildfires cause respiratory infections to double in a week, Health Ministry says
- Indonesia’s wildfires put millions at risk as climate extremes intensify a growing human rights crisis
- ‘There could be local extinction’: The fight to protect Indonesia’s orangutans as El Niño fuels fires
- 2019-20 Australian bushfire season (black summer)
- 2021 Türkiye mega forest Fires