# El Niño mostly to blame for Indonesian wildfires: Research

Source: [Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-el-nio-blame-indonesian-wildfires.html) · 2026-11-13 · Earth & Climate
Page: https://themorning.science/story/el-nino-mostly-to-blame-for-indonesian-wildfires-research-963143a17edbdb61
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- Wildfires that consumed large areas of Indonesia this year were driven largely by a strong El Niño, according to researchers.
- The researchers also said climate change and decades of natural landscape destruction fuelled the fires.
- The findings were announced on Friday, 13 November 2026.

## Why it matters

The study attributes the fires mainly to a strong El Niño, with climate change and past land degradation as contributing factors, which informs how fire risk in Indonesia is understood and predicted.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-13: Researchers report that a strong El Niño was largely responsible for this year's Indonesian wildfires

## Coverage

- [El Niño mostly to blame for Indonesian wildfires: Research](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-el-nio-blame-indonesian-wildfires.html) — Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change, 2026-11-13

Tags: wildfires, el nino, indonesia, climate change, land degradation

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science