Analysis of the Application of Environmental Accounting in Managing Costs for the Prevention and Mitigation of Haze Caused by Forest and Land Fires in Kalimantan

Abstract

Forest and land fires in Kalimantan generate environmental costs that go far beyond fire-suppression expenditures because haze creates health impacts, economic disruption, ecosystem damage, carbon emissions, and post-fire restoration needs. This study analyzes the application of environmental accounting to the management of prevention and haze-control costs associated with forest and land fires in Kalimantan and develops a cost-classification model to strengthen environmental accountability. A descriptive qualitative approach with a document-study design was employed. Data were drawn from official reports issued by Indonesia's environmental and forestry authorities, laws and regulations, World Bank documents, Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) guidance, and relevant scientific articles published during 2001-2025. Data were analyzed through reduction, thematic coding, environmental quality-cost classification, and cross-source triangulation. The findings indicate that wildfire-related costs have substantively been incurred by government institutions, business entities, and communities, yet the information remains fragmented across agencies, programs, and expenditure categories and therefore does not constitute an integrated environmental-cost information system. In 2023, the five Kalimantan provinces recorded approximately 508.4 thousand hectares of burned areas, concentrated in South, Central, and West Kalimantan. The analysis identifies four principal cost categories: prevention, detection, internal-failure/suppression, and external-failure/restoration costs. The latter includes social costs that are often not recorded by the causative entity, including health expenditures, productivity losses, transport disruption, ecosystem degradation, and emissions. This study proposes the Forest-and-Land-Fire Environmental Cost Accounting Integration Matrix (MIABK), which combines monetary and physical information, funding source, responsible actor, location, and response phase. The model supports a shift from predominantly reactive spending toward preventive expenditure and provides a more measurable basis for implementing the polluter-pays principle.