to whether companies can be held accountable for the blazes and resulting air pollution. Indonesia experiences fires regularly during its dry season, and experts say years of deforestation and the draining of peatland for cultivation have rendered previously fire-resistant landscapes vulnerable.

Driven by a strong El Nino cycle and resulting drought, this year's blazes have been particularly severe, burning through nearly two million hectares, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas. The fires have raged across forests and peatland but also palm oil and timber plantations supplying multinational firms. Civil society groups have regularly accused companies of responsibility for the blazes, pointing to so-called "hotspots" in supplier plantations, sometimes called concessions. Environmental group WALHI says it mapped "high confidence" hotspots across Indonesia using NASA fire data and found around 50 percent were inside concessions. In a report this month the group listed 40 timber and palm oil concessions by the number of hotspots detected. "This is a structural issue... (that) happens because of the practices, the activities, of these companies," WALHI forests and plantations campaigner Umi Ma'rufah told AFP. Pressure is also coming from governments, including Singapore, which has issued 10 companies with "preventative measure notices" under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. The notices urge them to fight fires on their land, prevent burning and submit action plans. Firms can face legal action including fines if they do not comply. "We must also be clear about where the responsibility for this lies," Singapore Senior Minister K. Shanmugam told reporters.  "This was not simply an act of nature, but a problem driven by companies pursuing profits." (Bssnews)