Political and institutional transformation in environmental governance: a case study of local governments in the Philippines

Increasingly local governments play a vital role in natural resource management (NRM), needing changes in planning, legislative, social, and political processes. These changes are traceable within the hegemony of a colonial past that countries in Southeast Asia commonly share. In the Philippines, local governments are in flux with enormous responsibilities handed down from central government. Although NRM is now seen as inextricably linked with improved local governance, the number of local governments responding to their roles remains low. Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) observed that there are policy hurdles and institutional issues impinging upon the sustainability of local NRM. This paper reports on a two-tiered study to investigate the factors that enhance or constrain effective local NRM. First, 15 Local Government Units (LGU) were used as case studies to identify macro-level factors in NRM. Second, a case study of the Landcare Program in the southern Philippines was used to analyse meso-level factors. This paper discusses the imperatives of political and institutional transformation to pursue the goals of environment and NRM governance. It argues that while collective action of local communities is encouraged to effectively manage natural resources on a sustainable basis, the state has the fundamental responsibility to provide the policy and institutional context to support community-initiated change. It concludes that central and local governments are yet to make the necessary philosophical and practical transitions to make a real dent in environmental governance.

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