Jakarta — For weeks, Indonesia has been battling fires that have burned vast swathes of forest and peat ecosystems, causing toxic haze to blanket parts of the country, Malaysia and Singapore.

The fires have harmed humans and animals alike, and prompted criminal charges, license suspensions and a presidentially mandated new agency to tackle fires in peat ecosystems.

Between January and July alone, more than 202,000 hectares were razed by fire, according to government figures. That is an area roughly three times the size of the capital Jakarta, and represents a 69-per cent increase in burned areas in the same period last year.

But the figures have not been updated since, and the burning has only worsened.

The Nusantara Atlas project, which uses satellite monitoring, estimates nearly 896,000 hectares — over five times the size of Greater London — had burned by the end of August.

South Papua province on the country’s easternmost island was the most-affected region, with over 168,000 hectares burned as of August, according to Nusantara Atlas.

NGO Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat said fires have been detected inside a large-scale government food estate project in South Papua, local media reported.