Philippine Environmental Governance

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the evolution of the participatory approach in Philippine environmental governance, specifically in the forestry sector. The paper argues that power politics has been central to the practice of public administration in the Philippines and holds that public administration is often motivated by self-centered ends and not public interest. The paper concludes that participatory mechanisms are quintessential to insulate public administration from the negative impact of power politics and to provide a legitimate and counter-veiling force to fulfill its normative role.

Outline:
Introduction
Power and Institutions
Intergovernmental Relations: Bargaining and Negotiating
Forest Policies and Participation
Context and Problems
Centrality of Politics, Institutions, and Participation
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Even as Philippine decentralization is much younger than the American federal experience, it has much to learn from it in terms of intergovernmental collaboration specifically implementation mechanism between the national line agencies and the local government units, which has yet to demonstrate good practices. In the area of environmental governance for example, much of "open access" forestlands in the Philippines have been jurisdictionally devolved to local government units from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources by way of Republic Act 7160, other wise known as the Local Government Code and implementing mechanism under DAO 30:1990, and except for declared protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). This poses both a problem and an opportunity here depending upon the action that government takes and other stakeholders to make the existing mechanism of environmental governance work. Thus, recent focus of ECOGOV2, a USAID funded project seeks to intervene into providing a collaborative framework among government, citizens, civil society, and private sector into closing open-access areas through some form viable instruments. Using the lens and focus of institutionalism, power and intergovernmental collaboration, Philippine forest policies and environmental experience shall be explored and analyzed verifying assertions earlier made. It becomes crucial then to verify the present context of the problem, and see how institutionalized power and political interest have shaped forest policies in the Philippines and explain how power is at play in institutions and may be the problem as it they can be solutions. Participation and reality of intergovernmental relations between the national and local government is also core to understanding and making things work in the protection and conservation of Philippine forests and biodiversity."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Agranoff, Robert and McGuire, Michael (2004). "Another Look at Bargaining and Negotiating in Intergovernmental Management". Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 14, No. 4.
• Peters, B. Guy and Piere, Jon (2003). "Introduction: The Role of Public Administration in Governing. Handbook of Public Administration. SAGE Publication. London.
• Moe, Terry M. (2003). "Power and Political Institutions". Conference on Crafting and Operating Institutions held April 11-13, 2003.
• O'Toole, Jr, Laurence J.; Meier, Kenneth J., "Public management in Intergovernmental Networks Matching Structural Networks and Managerial Networking". Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research. Vol. 14, No. 4.
• United Nations (2007). Public Administration and Democratic Governance: Governments Serving Citizens. 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government, Vienna, Austria.

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