Jakarta, July 24 -- Wildfires had burned 8,500 hectares of land across Indonesia as of May 2025, with the vast majority of land and forest fires caused by anthropogenic factors, according to the Ministry of Forestry.

"The occurrence of wildfires is expected to rise between June and July," said Israr Albar, head of the ministry's Forest Fire Mitigation Division, on Wednesday.

He said that nearly 100 percent of the wildfires are caused by humans, and the affected land could expand amid extreme environmental heat.

He remarked that anthropogenic factors, however, were not only found as the main causes of wildfires in Indonesia but also across many tropical countries in Southeast Asia, especially concerning peatland fires.

According to Alb...