Governance and Natural Resource Management: Key Factors and Policy Implications: Emerging lessons from ICRAF-SANREM Collaboration in the Philippines1

摘要: The concept and practice of governance and natural resource management is emerging as a popular debate in the Philippines, as in many countries in the region. It is now widely accepted that, Local Government Units (LGU) play a critical role in the management of resources within their jurisdiction. This debate is constructed from a combination of people, processes and structures under a diversity of circumstances. Hence, it’s pluralistic nature, necessitates participation more widely by various civil society sectors, including the scientific community.Our collaborative work with SANREM/CRSP is a serious attempt to understand better the methodological, institutional and policy hurdles impinging upon the success of local natural resource management. The experience begun in Lantapan in phase 1 of SANREM, with the aim to better integrate environmental knowledge in planning and decision-making at the watershed level. SANREM supported an LGU-led planning process for the development of a five-year Municipal Natural Resource Management and Development Plan (NRMDP) of Lantapan. The NRMDP was recognized as a national model for locally-led and research-based NRM planning by the Philippines’ National Strategy for Watershed Management (DENR-FMB, 1998). Inspired by the Lantapan experience, a scaling-up process was pursued in four municipalities in northern Bukidnon. The recently completed plans were legitimized with institutional and financial support--embracing the technological, institutional and policy aspects of resource management.