GLOBAL forest fires have become common occurrences in many parts of the world. They occur in the forested areas of the US and Canada as well as in the vegetated areas of South Africa. Called wildfires or bushfires in Australia, they normally occur during the dry season.

In the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, the Central Kalimantan province of Indonesia in Borneo island, frequent uncontrolled forest fires are yearly occurrences since 1982 mainly due to land clearing operations and the practice of kaingin (slash-and-burn agriculture) to give way to palm oil and rubber tree plantations. The haze from the yearly forest fire reaches other Asean countries, e.g., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines. It brought about the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (2003), which is actually an emergency response agreement to the recurring haze pollution from Indonesia. No haze was recorded in 2020-2021 as land clearings were put on hold by the Covid-19 pandemic.