Countries in southeast Asia are planning drastic action in a bid to combat peat fires that have smothered the region in a thick haze.

Satellite images taken on 12 August (see picture) show that a soupy smog now covers much of Malaysia and Indonesia. The smog is being generated by smouldering peat bogs on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, which are set alight each year as farmers clear their lands (see Nature 432, 144–146; 2004).

The smoke has been so bad that schools and businesses have been forced to close and there has been a dramatic rise in respiratory ailments, according to reports from the region.

Indonesian authorities announced last week that they would prosecute ten plantation owners for lighting illegal fires on their land. The Malaysian government, meanwhile, is planning to seed rain clouds in the hope that they will help to clear the haze from the air.

Credit: J. SCHMALTZ/MODIS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM/NASA GODDARD