After months of fires in Indonesia that have caused thick regional haze, attention is turning 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 made previously fire-resistant landscapes vulnerable.
Driven by a strong El Niño cycle and the resulting drought, this year's blazes have been particularly severe, burning nearly two million hectares, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.
The fires have swept through forests and peatland, as well as 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 that around 50% 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 fail to 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."
Legal liability
Several companies implicated have insisted they are not responsible for the fires.
"Fires originating outside our boundaries subsequently spread into areas under the Group's management," Singapore Exchange-listed palm oil company First Resources said after one of its concessions was listed in WALHI's report.
Asia Pulp and Paper, a Singapore-registered firm, also insisted that fires in supplier concessions do not "necessarily mean that land was deliberately burned or that the concession holder was responsible for starting the fire".
Satellite monitoring can sometimes show where fires started, said Nusantara Atlas founder David Gaveau.
"In some cases, the satellite photos clearly show that fire starts inside, but we cannot say whether it's by design or whether it's accidental," he told AFP.
"In other cases it's also clear that fire started outside and spread inside the concession."
Experts say fire has previously been used to illegally clear land for cultivation, including in large concessions, as well as by smaller-scale local investors.
Parts of Indonesia previously allowed smallholders to use fire to clear plots of land, although the government has cracked down on the practice this year, too.
Even if fires begin accidentally or outside concessions, firms may have legal responsibilities, explained Azam Hawari, a lawyer with environmental law NGO ClientEarth.
"An external source of ignition or extreme weather does not necessarily absolve a company of civil liability," Hawari said.
Companies are required to have adequate fire prevention measures, including personnel and equipment. They could also be liable "where activities pose a serious threat to the environment", such as peatland drainage, he added.
International links
Indonesia has announced "administrative sanctions" against dozens of firms and criminal proceedings against 125 individuals and corporations.
But campaigner Umi pointed out that some firms previously prosecuted had failed to pay fines or carry out forest restoration.
"It's about the will from the government to really do their (enforcement) task," she said.
Some implicated concessions have links extending well beyond Indonesia's borders, said Holly Yang, an accounting professor at Singapore Management University who teaches sustainability reporting.
Following WALHI's report, she and her student Ashmit Bansal mapped concession holders, owners, creditors, investors and supply-chain partners.
"The fires occur in Indonesia, but the ownership, financing and commercial relationships extend across borders," Yang told AFP.
Yang noted that a connection "does not, by itself, establish responsibility for a fire".
But mapping relationships "allows the public to ask informed questions and assess how those parties respond".
After months of fires in Indonesia that have caused thick regional haze, attention is turning 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 made previously fire-resistant landscapes vulnerable.
Driven by a strong El Niño cycle and the resulting drought, this year's blazes have been particularly severe, burning nearly two million hectares, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.
The fires have swept through forests and peatland, as well as 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 that around 50% 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 fail to 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."
Legal liability
Several companies implicated have insisted they are not responsible for the fires.
"Fires originating outside our boundaries subsequently spread into areas under the Group's management," Singapore Exchange-listed palm oil company First Resources said after one of its concessions was listed in WALHI's report.
Asia Pulp and Paper, a Singapore-registered firm, also insisted that fires in supplier concessions do not "necessarily mean that land was deliberately burned or that the concession holder was responsible for starting the fire".
Satellite monitoring can sometimes show where fires started, said Nusantara Atlas founder David Gaveau.
"In some cases, the satellite photos clearly show that fire starts inside, but we cannot say whether it's by design or whether it's accidental," he told AFP.
"In other cases it's also clear that fire started outside and spread inside the concession."
Experts say fire has previously been used to illegally clear land for cultivation, including in large concessions, as well as by smaller-scale local investors.
Parts of Indonesia previously allowed smallholders to use fire to clear plots of land, although the government has cracked down on the practice this year, too.
Even if fires begin accidentally or outside concessions, firms may have legal responsibilities, explained Azam Hawari, a lawyer with environmental law NGO ClientEarth.
"An external source of ignition or extreme weather does not necessarily absolve a company of civil liability," Hawari said.
Companies are required to have adequate fire prevention measures, including personnel and equipment. They could also be liable "where activities pose a serious threat to the environment", such as peatland drainage, he added.
International links
Indonesia has announced "administrative sanctions" against dozens of firms and criminal proceedings against 125 individuals and corporations.
But campaigner Umi pointed out that some firms previously prosecuted had failed to pay fines or carry out forest restoration.
"It's about the will from the government to really do their (enforcement) task," she said.
Some implicated concessions have links extending well beyond Indonesia's borders, said Holly Yang, an accounting professor at Singapore Management University who teaches sustainability reporting.
Following WALHI's report, she and her student Ashmit Bansal mapped concession holders, owners, creditors, investors and supply-chain partners.
"The fires occur in Indonesia, but the ownership, financing and commercial relationships extend across borders," Yang told AFP.
Yang noted that a connection "does not, by itself, establish responsibility for a fire".
But mapping relationships "allows the public to ask informed questions and assess how those parties respond."