Impact of forest fires: Fires endanger Sumatran elephants

afp | According to environmentalists, the Sumatran elephants, which are already on the Red List as “threatened with extinction,” are even more at risk due to the severe forest fires in Indonesia. Between June and September 8th, more than 4,500 fires were counted in 21 habitats of the rare elephant subspecies, the wildlife protection organization Geopix told the AFP news agency on Wednesday. More than 560,000 hectares of forest burned down during this period.

In Indonesia, emergency services are fighting on the ground and from the air against severe forest fires in some areas on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The fires are so huge that the thick smoke they cause hangs over the entire country and has also reached neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

According to Geopix, there were more than twice as many fires in the habitats of the Sumatran elephants: while there were around 1,300 fires in August, the number of fires had risen to more than 2,800 by the first week of September. In addition, the individual fires were even more devastating.

According to the environmental organization WWF, there are only 2,400 to 2,800 Sumatran elephants left in the world. The main cause of the dwindling population is the loss of habitat. But they are also repeatedly exposed to attacks by poachers. Scientists believe they could be extinct in 30 years.

“The fires have caused further loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat, reduced food and water sources and thereby altered elephant migration patterns,” said Geopix campaign manager Annisa Rahmawati. In addition to the lack of food and water, the toxic smoke caused by the fires could increase physical stress on Sumatran elephants.

Forest fires occur regularly in heavily forested Indonesia during the dry season, which typically extends from July to October. This year, however, the fires are significantly more severe, which is partly due to the current climate phenomenon El Niño.