As fires rage in Borneo, several of the world’s rarest primates are continually threatened

Wildfires fed by El Niño-driven drought have spread across Borneo and Sumatra since August, choking Indonesian communities with toxic haze and pushing into Sebangau National Park, home to thousands of critically endangered orangutans and the island's largest population of white-bearded gibbons. The Borneo Nature Foundation says a fire crossed into the park for the first time in early September, and volunteer crews pushed it back, though some reforestation sites were hit.

The underlying problem predates this fire season: illegal logging canals dug decades ago still drain the park's ancient peat domes, turning waterlogged swamp into fuel that can smolder underground for weeks, igniting trees from below. Scientists have documented that smoke even disrupts gibbon song, which the animals use to hold territory and pair bonds, a pattern also seen in smoke-exposed orangutans.

Since 2015 the foundation has built over 1,000 dams, planted nearly a million trees, and drilled boreholes to rewet the peat, running firefighting teams on roughly $100 a day each. Rain isn't expected until late October or November, and the foundation says it's actively seeking donations from international bodies and individuals to keep the effort funded.

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