The periodic climatic warming phenomenon known as El Niño can induce severe and extended dry conditions in Southeast Asia and other areas. The combination of El Niño-mediated drought conditions and poor land use practices can facilitate the penetration of forest fires deep into tropical forests that were previously thought to be fire resistant (Uhl 1998; Fig. 4.1). Transmigration of humans into forests and an increase in accessibility due to creation of roads can further exacerbate the spread of forest fires (Stolle et al. 2003). Forest fires have always been present in the Southeast Asian landscape, but factors such as rapid human population growth, change in land-use and apparently increasingly