Environmental governance for ecological and human wellbeing : cases of forest protected areas in the Philippines
Creators: name: Dano, Maria Noelyn
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: SD418.3.P6 D36 2013
subject: Forest protection Government policy Philippines
subject: Forests and forestry Environmental aspects Philippines
subject: Environmental policy Philippines
subject: Sustainable development Philippines
subject: Forest management Philippines

description: The increasing recognition that forest loss leads to profound negative costs to society in terms of forgone goods and services has reinforced the exigency to protect the forests. While on one hand, the sustainability of essential ecological processes and life support systems in forest areas is threatened, on the other hand, the security of a just and dignified livelihood of the people living in and around forests and protected areas is at stake. Reconciling claims from ecological and social systems immediately leads us to face issues of politics and 'governance' - the structures and processes by which societies share power, shape individual and collective actions (Young 1992). Employing a comparative case study of three forest protected areas in the Philippines, the thesis addresses the central question: "What forest governance features best promote both ecological and human wellbeing?" The cases examined are the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park, and the Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park. I chose them because of their significance in terms of biological diversity, as well as on their differences in governance approaches. They are among the 10 priority protected areas in the country identified as highly significant for biodiversity conservation. They are all characterized by the presence of indigenous and other forest-dependent peoples. And all are sites of environment and development programs carried out with the two-pronged goal of biodiversity protection and rural development; as such, they have all been initially provided with major funding support from global actors. The three cases are, in theory, all under a decentralized government-coordinated multi-stakeholders governance system; this is, however, muddled in practice. They exhibit variations in their modes of governing. On what appears to be a dominant characteristic, the Sierra Madre case is more 'donor-driven'; the Kitanglad more 'networked'; and the Kanlaon is relatively 'state-dominated'. In examining how the attributes of governance arrangements and processes influence the capacity of the social-ecological systems in addressing conservation and development goals, I use the following criteria: 1) Legitimacy, 2)Accountability, 3)Cost-efficiency, 4) Coordination, and 5) Resilience. The thesis finds that legitimacy, accountability, cost-efficiency in decision-making, coordination, and resilience are mutually reinforcing in their performance as forest governance features promoting distributive justice, livelihood protection, ecosystem protection, and sustainability - core values for ecological and human wellbeing. When faced with tensions and trade-offs, the deliberative nature of a networked governance mechanism is instrumental in turning these tensions into synergies for collective actions. A legitimacy deficit that is common in governance networks can be addressed by a system that is conceptualized to employ discursive engagements in both the public and the empowered spaces, aided by a bridging institution in terms of transmission and accountability; and substantiated by discursive representation in cases when descriptive representation proves to be infeasible, limiting, and/or unjust. The overall analyses of the findings suggest that effective networked governance involving state and non-state actors that works for both forests and people is one that is polycentric, collaborative, and discursive, operating in a deliberative system. This system of environmental governance also creates an enabling setting for a just and sustainable society to thrive.