Field Actions Science Reports (Sep 2010)
Institutional aspects of local participation in natural resource management
Abstract
The Philippine Local Government Code provides the basis for local natural resources management. This Code which was enacted into Law in 1991, however, is not necessarily the driving force for many Local Government Units (LGU’s) who have made breakthroughs in local natural resources management (NRM). The paper provides case studies that reveal the policy and institutional hurdles in implementing local and participatory natural resources management programmes; the lessons and experiences amongst LGU’s in linking good governance with NRM; the research and development activities on local and participatory NRM; and the key institutional and policy issues to be communicated at the national level. Through the development of the Natural Resources Management and Development Plan (NRMDP) employing public-private partnerships and capitalizing the presence of research and non-governmental organizations, agri-business and other community sectors, the Municipality of Lantapan, a local government unit, succeeded in overcoming constraints such as: lack of budget, manpower, technical skills, and poor community involvement. A key feature of the NRMDP is the Landcare Program which centers on formation of community landcare groups that mobilize resources for wider adoption of conservation practices. The Landcare Program is a grassroots approach for rapid and inexpensive dissemination of available, simple, and lower-cost technologies of agroforestry and conservation practices. It was also found out that communities have important roles to play but local government units have greater responsibility to provide the policy and institutional basis for supporting community-based initiatives. Case studies reveal that the responsibility for producing environmental goods goes beyond the normal practices of governance and is entertwined with the need for long-term education and managing the political culture through a pragmatic approach that directly links NRM with good governance.
