Wildfires on doorstep of Indonesia’s new capital as environmental and health crisis flares

Wildfires have burned within 30 to 40 kilometers of Nusantara, Indonesia's under-construction new capital on Borneo, prompting officials including the forestry minister to inspect the blazes and call in state firefighters, the army and police.

The fires, part of a dry-season crisis affecting drained peatlands across the country, have not reached the government complex itself, but nearby air quality has collapsed; one monitoring station recorded PM2.5 levels holding near 600 micrograms per cubic meter, dozens of times the WHO's guideline. Respiratory illness diagnoses in nearby Balikpapan rose almost 20% in a single month, though officials caution the link to the smoke is not yet confirmed.

Residents near the $32.7 billion project, including a pregnant woman and a family caring for a mother with pneumonia, described the smoke settling over their homes. A university lecturer noted that a city's success might better be measured by whether its neighbors can breathe.

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