MINDEN PICTURES – Slash and Burn Catastrophe in Indonesia

For two and a half months the tropical Indonesian air has been thick with smoke and particulate matter – the result of 2.1 million hectares of burning land. The sad fact that it costs $7 to slash and burn an acre of land than $150 to clear it with bulldozers encourages farmers and oil palm plantation owners alike to strike a match. Over 50,000 fires burned deep into the underlying peat. Even after the flames died out smoldering peat continued to fill the air with a choking brown haze causing respiratory issues for humans and animals. Experts state that the fires in Indonesia have emitted an estimated 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide to date – a number greater than the average annual CO2 footprint of Japan. As part of his ongoing GreatApes 20/20 project, Gerry Ellis brings us coverage from Central and West Kalimantan, Borneo. This gallery features images of orphaned orangutans at the Yayasan IR (IAR) rehabilitation center where caretakers tend rescues from accelerating forest loss; the smoking ruin of a rainforest, and the choking fire-born toxic haze in city streets.