Coffee growers had beans roasted on the bush when the peaty soil caught fire.

ECONOMIST: Guyana

Some have never gone out, but have smouldered on in peaty soil or coal seams underground and have rekindled themselves.

ECONOMIST: The fire next time

Last year a Dutch study found that draining Indonesian swamps to make way for oil-palm plantations resulted in 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions for each tonne of palm oil produced, by speeding up the decomposition of the peaty soil.

ECONOMIST: Can biofuels save Europe, or the planet?