Kebakaran Hutan dan Lahan di Kalimantan Barat dalam Terang Teologi Moral Thomas Aquinas: Analisis Sumber-Sumber Moralitas dan Implikasi Pastoralnya

Abstract

This study evaluates the phenomenon of forest and land fires (karhutla) in West Kalimantan from the perspective of Catholic Moral Theology using Thomas Aquinas' framework of actus humanus in Summa Theologiae. This study employs a qualitative descriptive-analytical method based on document and literature studies focusing on the three sources of moral action (fontes moralitatis): obiectum, finis, and circumstantiae. Empirical data from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of West Kalimantan for January–August 2026 recorded 38,310.86 hectares of burned land concentrated in peatlands and plantation concessions. Departing from previous studies that predominantly utilized the general integral ecology framework of Laudato Si’, this study offers academic novelty by systematically applying Aquinas' classical moral evaluation tools to large-scale land management practices. The analysis reveals that uncontrolled land burning constitutes a morally defective obiectum, driven by a finis of capital efficiency leading to avaritia (greed), and aggravated by circumstantiae of public health crises (acute respiratory infections) and ecosystem destruction. Based on the principle bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectu, corporate land burning actions can be qualified as ecological sins and manifestations of structural sin when fulfilling the criteria of full knowledge and deliberate choice. As practical implications, this study recommends establishing an ecological pastoral care supported by integrated Church institutional data management and strengthening ecological conversion catechesis at the parish level.