Indonesia wildfires spur cloud seeding amid El Nino

Indonesia is expanding cloud-seeding operations to try to bring rain over wildfire-hit areas, as a strong El Nino helps drive a fire season that experts say could be among the country's worst in years.

The Indonesian government says more than 100,000 hectares burned in the first half of 2026. Deforestation monitoring site Nusantara Atlas estimates that more than 285,000 hectares burned through July, more than four times the size of Jakarta.

Cloud seeding involves releasing particles such as silver iodide or salts into suitable clouds to encourage rainfall. Indonesia's BMKG weather agency says the country carried out 252 cloud-seeding operations between 2021 and August 2026, up from 85 in the previous decade.

Meteorologist Safillah Anggie Wahyuni said the technique does not create clouds, but tries to make use of clouds that can produce rain. Security Minister Djamari Chaniago said helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were on standby as authorities watched for weather changes that could create rain clouds.

Nearly 50,000 firefighters are also deployed on the ground. Indonesia is carrying out peatland rewetting and monitoring fire hotspots with satellites and patrols.

Some experts question how useful cloud seeding can be during the dry season, when clouds are limited. I Putu Santikayasa, a hydroclimatology lecturer at IPB University, said its effectiveness would be very low because of the lack of clouds. BMKG weather modification director Budi Harsoyo called cloud seeding a mitigation effort, not a permanent solution, and said there was no evidence of harm from its use.

Indonesia's peatlands store large amounts of carbon when wet but become highly flammable when dry, and fires can smoulder underground and reignite. Uli Arta Siagian of environmental group WALHI said vulnerable areas should be protected from development permits.

Haze from fires has recently raised air pollution levels in the Malaysian part of Borneo and prompted several school closures. Indonesia regularly faces fires that can send haze across the region, including to Malaysia and Singapore.