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Further, the introduction of fires in a region that had no prior fire regime, has exacerbated drought stress and caused a radical transformation in forest ecology. Today el Niño years are no longer a time of plenty. As Curran said during a visit to California, "el Niño has become the great destroyer instead of the great provider." Land use change has broken the once tightly linked ecosystem.

The impact extends well beyond Borneo with annual fires driving widespread pollution (often called "haze") that can spread as far as Australia, China, and India. The fires release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, especially when Borneo's peat forests burn. With 518 tons of carbon per hectare - one of the highest levels of biomass on the planet — these ecosystems can contribute up to 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in some years, making Indonesia the third largest greenhouse gas polluter, despite having only the world's 22nd largest economy. Some scientists worry that fires and climate change could be a positive feedback loop that only worsens conditions, producing ever drier climate, more frequent fires, and higher carbon emissions.