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Air quality now: Palembang

Indonesia · South Sumatra · 4 cities

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

Right now, Lubuklinggau has the cleanest air of the 4 cities we track in South Sumatra (AQI 70, Moderate), and Baturaja the worst (AQI 96, Moderate). Prabumulih has the most tree cover, at 47.3% — #18 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 87

Average right now

Moderate

US EPA index, across 4 cities
cities tracked
4
average tree cover
34.0%
Indonesia: 28.0%
worst air now: Baturaja
96
cleanest air now: Lubuklinggau
70

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 Sumatra · average AQI 87

Air quality today across South Sumatra, city by city

Current air quality and tree cover for cities in South Sumatra, Indonesia
Palembang89Moderate24.6%17.0K#81 of 155
Lubuklinggau70Moderate20.8%28.9K#100 of 155
Baturaja96Moderate43.4%—#26 of 155
Prabumulih94Moderate47.3%—#18 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 Sumatra lost?

Since 2001, South Sumatra has lost about 3.34 million hectares of forest (about 33,000 km²): 49% 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
3.34 million haabout 33,000 km²
Share of its forest
49%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
2.68 million hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in South Sumatra, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in South Sumatra, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.356K

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in South Sumatra, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
200153,200 ha4,600 ha57,800 ha
200256,000 ha9,060 ha65,100 ha
200326,500 ha3,600 ha30,100 ha
200486,900 ha13,800 ha101,000 ha
200571,700 ha13,700 ha85,400 ha
2006131,000 ha37,900 ha169,000 ha
2007120,000 ha51,500 ha171,000 ha
2008150,000 ha35,300 ha185,000 ha
2009168,000 ha30,900 ha199,000 ha
201092,400 ha26,300 ha119,000 ha
2011107,000 ha22,800 ha130,000 ha
2012304,000 ha51,700 ha356,000 ha
201381,000 ha17,000 ha98,100 ha
2014133,000 ha23,500 ha157,000 ha
2015111,000 ha55,300 ha166,000 ha
2016140,000 ha125,000 ha265,000 ha
201796,500 ha25,900 ha122,000 ha
2018106,000 ha17,400 ha124,000 ha
201982,800 ha17,500 ha100,000 ha
202085,600 ha20,100 ha106,000 ha
202163,100 ha13,100 ha76,200 ha
202276,200 ha9,940 ha86,200 ha
2023126,000 ha10,000 ha136,000 ha
2024106,000 ha11,900 ha118,000 ha
2025102,000 ha14,300 ha116,000 ha

Forest loss is slowing down: about 107,000 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 143,000 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2012, when about 356,000 hectares of forest were lost.

What is causing deforestation in South Sumatra?

  • Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good79% · 2.65 million ha
  • Loggingcan grow back9.7% · 323,000 ha
  • Wildfirescan grow back8.6% · 289,000 ha

Also: shifting farming, mining and energy, towns and roads, storms, floods and other natural causes, 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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