About 60% of Kalimantan’s peatland areas have been drained for palm oil plantations and pulp and paper concessions. Drought has left villagers buying water, while workers who depend on rivers struggle to earn a living. Experts say this year’s super El Niño, along with decades of peatland degradation, has contributed to the severe water crisis.
Who Pays for the Water Crisis
In Penyeladi village, Sriwati can no longer count on the Kapuas River. The water near her home has receded to a shallow stream of mud that isn’t safe to drink or use for washing rice. Now she buys water, adding to her monthly expenses.
“The water shortage affects us, especially when it comes to drinking water,” Sriwati, a shopkeeper and mother of three children, told The Associated Press. Private and government donations of water have brought some relief, but residents remain worried about the dry spell and its effects on everyday activities.
Indonesia’s longest river, the Kapuas supplies water to more than 3 million people. Low levels have disrupted boaters, fishers and other people who depend on the river for work and travel.
Amanda Hurowitz, a senior director at the international environmental organization Mighty Earth, said about 60% of Kalimantan’s peatland had been drained for plantations and pulp and paper concessions. Peatlands store carbon, regulate water and help control pollution.
“That means the water is not where it should be. There are all these canals, and because the canals are blocked, the water table goes low,” Hurowitz said. “Because it’s so dry, the water has just disappeared.”
Concessions, Fires and Government Policy
The Ministry of Forestry acknowledged the harm caused by drained peatlands. It said investigators should establish specific causes and liabilities based on evidence, rather than automatically blame El Niño or businesses.
The ministry said the government aims to stop further peatland degradation through ecosystem restoration and strict enforcement of concession holders’ obligations. It also said its forest and land fire policy is moving toward prevention, with stronger cross-sector coordination, enforcement against burning-based land clearing, expanded patrols and early-detection systems, risk-based monitoring, peatland restoration, and requirements for permit holders and communities to take responsibility for fire control.
“Ultimately, controlling forest and land fires is not the task of a single ministry or institution,” the ministry said. “Prevention requires collaborative effort.”
Hot, dry El Niño conditions and peatland degradation have fueled fires across Borneo. Dried peat catches fire easily; fires can spread underground, making them hard to extinguish and likely to recur, according to the Borneo Nature Foundation. Dwindling water supplies have slowed firefighting, and Japan has deployed firefighting assistance to the island.
Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry recorded more than 202,000 hectares of burned land between January and July, an area almost three times the size of Singapore. Thick, toxic haze traveled more than 800 kilometers to the Philippines and exceeded Malaysia’s emergency-level air-pollution threshold. Authorities declared an emergency in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo.
Livelihoods Lost Along the River
In Sungai Malaya village in West Kalimantan, fires destroyed vacant lots where Rumsiyeh, a 45-year-old mother of five, and her husband gathered ferns to sell at the market. “Everything’s gone. We can’t make a living anymore,” she said.
Fisherman Abiansah, 39, said thick haze cuts visibility and makes travel dangerous where boats can still operate. In other stretches of the Kapuas, water levels have dropped too low for fishing or travel.
Large metal barges that usually carry oil palm tree kernels downriver for processing have run aground on sand. The national economic impact hasn’t been measured.