The Institute of Environmental Governance in University of Northern Philippines

            The Institute of Environmental Governance Program or IEG is the strategic response to the ever-increasing demand for capacity building of LGUs. This LoGoTRI-PhilNet accredited program with four stars rating caters to two levels. Level One (I) shall be designed to serve the needs of Barangay Officials and Level Two (II) shall cater to the needs of Municipal, City and Provincial Officials. Both levels will be housed in partner Academic Institutions.

            In [year of establishment], the IEG in [SUC] was establish through [insert history and other details about the IEG].

Why IEG?

            With the devolution of government powers accompanying the passage of the Local Government Code of 1991 (R.A. 7160), local government units (LGUs) were granted powers to effect governance in their respective jurisdictions. Among the devolved functions are those that used to be solely under the environment department, like pollution regulation and solid waste management, management of communal forests and adoption of integrated social forestry, small scale mining regulation, and other related functions. Fisheries management and regulatory functions in municipal waters have likewise been devolved to local governments. Barangay Captains are specifically tasked to “enforce laws and regulations relating to pollution control and protection of the environment.” Mayors, on the other hand, are mandated to adopt measures to safeguard and conserve the natural resources of the municipality or city. Indeed, with the passage of the local government code and other relevant environmental legislations, increasing power and responsibility on the environment have been passed or granted to local governments. However, the devolution of these powers and responsibilities does not necessarily equate to actual transfer of capacity, thus there is a challenge of providing the much- needed capacity to enable local executives and local policy makers better perform their given mandate.

How we do it?

            Each training program is designed using the Integrated Ecosystems Approach, wherein a common resource base such as a bay, gulf, watershed, or declared protected area is considered, and, as far as practicable, training participants come from one contiguous area. The Institute will endeavor to design its projects towards the attainment of specific and measurable impacts on the common resource as a result of the integrated action plan output of the participants.

            The specific and measurable impacts identified in the action plans are assessed after a period of six months to one year from the conduct of training through a monitoring and evaluation activity. The impact of the training is monitored, not only on the participant, but on the identified common resource base as well.