Forested freshwater swamps and peat swamps in the low-lying alluvial plains and basins of Kalimantan, such as in Kutai National Park, provide important wildlife refuges and harbour numerous rare bird species. Already threatened by deforestation, drainage and agriculture, higher evapotranspiration rates resulting from climate change will lead to drier conditions, with adverse consequences for the vegetation and hydrology of these ecosystems. Longer dry seasons could result in a climate similar to that in the El Niño year 1982-83. Between July 1992 and April 1993 Samarinda, near the east coast of Kalimantan, received only 35% of the normal amount of rainfall (Muhtaman 1993). The exceptionally dry conditions led to fires which destroyed 3.5 million hectares of peat swamp and dipterocarp forest in East Kalimantan, including 800,000 hectares of primary forest, 750,000 hectares of secondary forest and 550,000 hectares of peat swamp, the rest being logged-over forest (Goldammer and Seibert 1992).
Ground and aerial surveys of Kutai National Park revealed that it was almost completely destroyed by fire (Muhtaman 1993). In areas of forest which escaped unburnt, up to 70% of trees died from drought (Cox and Collins, 1991). In areas outside the national park, damage was generally higher in logged-over areas where shrubs growing in wide spaces of open ground provided a ready fuel source after a prolonged drought (Goldammer and Seibert 1992). Apart from the ecological disaster, economic costs amounted to US$2-12 million and local airports had to be closed because of the thick palls of smoke in the air (Öquist et al, 1996). Apart from the direct effects of fire and drought on the forest's plant life, the animals suffered from a number of impacts on their food resources, mobility and microhabitat: fruit and seed availability declined, arboreal pathways were destroyed, and shelter from predators and sites available for small organisms to inhabit were lost (Leighton and Wirawan 1986).