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Air quality now: Makassar

Indonesia · South Sulawesi · 4 cities

Air quality in South Sulawesi today The AQI right now, city by city

Right now, Parepare has the cleanest air of the 4 cities we track in South Sulawesi (AQI 51, Moderate), and Makassar the worst (AQI 131, Unhealthy for sensitive groups). Parepare has the most tree cover, at 24.9% — #78 of 155 cities measured in Indonesia.

Every city is measured the same way, over the same 2 km around its center: the air quality right now, from ground stations where there are any, and its tree cover.

AQI 85

Average right now

Moderate

US EPA index, across 4 cities
cities tracked
4
average tree cover
18.6%
Indonesia: 28.0%
worst air now: Makassar
131
cleanest air now: Parepare
51

Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous, and it reads differently from Indonesia's ISPU. Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.

South Sulawesi · average AQI 85

Air quality today across South Sulawesi, city by city

Current air quality and tree cover for cities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Makassar131Unhealthy for sensitive groups8.3%83.9K#153 of 155
Palopo62Moderate19.0%21.8K#109 of 155
Parepare51Moderate24.9%8.9K#78 of 155
Watampone97Moderate22.1%24.8K#93 of 155

Air quality is the US AQI from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where available, otherwise the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, refreshed hourly. Tree cover is measured within 2 km of each city center from Sentinel-2 imagery; the rank compares every city measured in Indonesia.

Is this the same as Indonesia's ISPU?

No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Indonesia's official index is the ISPU (Indeks Standar Pencemar Udara), published by the environment ministry from its own monitoring stations. Its bands are 0–50 Baik (good), 51–100 Sedang (moderate), 101–200 Tidak Sehat (unhealthy), 201–300 Sangat Tidak Sehat (very unhealthy) and over 300 Berbahaya (hazardous). The two indexes use different breakpoints and averaging times, so the same air can score differently on each.

Deforestation · 2001–2025

How much forest has South Sulawesi lost?

Since 2001, South Sulawesi has lost about 401,000 hectares of forest (about 4,000 km²): 13% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (80%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.

Forest lost since 2001
401,000 haabout 4,000 km²
Share of its forest
13%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
322,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in South Sulawesi, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in South Sulawesi, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.31.4K

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in South Sulawesi, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
20016,710 ha1,630 ha8,340 ha
20028,850 ha4,110 ha13,000 ha
20034,480 ha1,590 ha6,070 ha
200413,900 ha4,010 ha17,900 ha
20056,330 ha2,270 ha8,600 ha
200610,900 ha3,000 ha13,900 ha
20077,490 ha2,010 ha9,510 ha
20087,320 ha831 ha8,150 ha
200921,300 ha2,380 ha23,700 ha
20107,820 ha804 ha8,630 ha
201113,200 ha1,170 ha14,400 ha
201214,800 ha1,570 ha16,400 ha
20137,930 ha1,260 ha9,180 ha
201418,700 ha3,000 ha21,700 ha
201520,800 ha7,650 ha28,500 ha
201620,200 ha11,200 ha31,400 ha
201719,200 ha5,050 ha24,300 ha
201816,300 ha3,620 ha19,900 ha
201919,900 ha3,390 ha23,300 ha
202011,000 ha3,600 ha14,600 ha
20218,250 ha2,370 ha10,600 ha
202214,000 ha2,710 ha16,700 ha
202324,100 ha3,800 ha27,900 ha
20247,450 ha2,630 ha10,100 ha
202511,100 ha3,700 ha14,800 ha

Forest loss is slowing down: about 16,000 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 22,700 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2016, when about 31,400 hectares of forest were lost.

What is causing deforestation in South Sulawesi?

  • Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good78% · 314,000 ha
  • Shifting farmingcan grow back10% · 41,300 ha
  • Wildfirescan grow back4.9% · 19,700 ha

Also: logging, storms, floods and other natural causes, mining and energy, towns and roads, unknown causes.

Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.

Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. How it's measured

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