Integrating Sustainability (ESG) Reporting Into Tourism MSMEs in the Wallacea Region: A Basic Environmental Accounting Research in Coastal Manado and Bunaken

Abstract

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting has become a global accountability norm, and Indonesia will apply its first sustainability disclosure standards (PSPK 1 and 2) from 2027. However, ESG debates rarely reach the micro and small enterprises that dominate tourism in ecologically sensitive areas. This study explores how tourism micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on Bunaken Island, within the Wallacea biodiversity region of North Sulawesi, understand and practise ESG, how these practices are recorded, and what reporting arrangement would be feasible. A qualitative exploratory case study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with eight MSME informants covering twelve business units (homestay, diving, culinary, and souvenir) and two community stakeholders, supported by observation and documentation, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Most informants had never heard of ESG yet performed many ESG-consistent practices, particularly waste sorting, local employment, and guest safety. Their sustainability was constrained by marine debris from the mainland and by small-island infrastructure limits. Financial records existed mainly where managers were accountable to absentee owners, whereas no informant recorded ESG practices. The study concludes that the gap lies in recording rather than in practice and proposes a preliminary embedded, evidence-based reporting framework (record–evidence–communicate) that builds on existing owner reports and digital channels.