Institutional Arrangements Affecting Coastal Resources Management Initiatives in the Philippines: Trends, Demands and Issues

Abstract

"The Philippines has substantial experiences in coastal resources management (CRM). Since the mid-1970s, there have been at least 200 projects undertaking different aspects of coastal resources management from community education/organizing, livelihood, advocacy, marine protected area planning to policy development and research. The growth is phenomenal. The onset of several large projects with funding from bilateral and multilateral donors played a key role in its increase. Today, the management of the country's coastal resources has used different approaches from integrated coastal management to community-based coastal resources management to co-management and to integrated area development. The key themes in all these approaches are integration across diverse sectors and uses of coastal resources and the involvement of communities and the government in coastal resources management.

"Central to this development is the role formal institutions play in shaping the domain through which CRM prospered. There are key developments in the institutional arena that led to its phenomenal growth in the Philippines. Foremost among these developments is the Constitution of 1987, which, aside from specifying three modes of utilization of resources, spurred the enactment of important pieces of legislation that supports CRM. Secondly, the interest which the United Nations Convention on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 engendered on integrated coastal resources management worldwide and the subsequent acceptance of bilateral and multilateral donors of their importance. Thirdly, another factor leading to the growth of CRM in the Philippines is the presence of a diverse number of local NGOs, who are in the forefront of experimenting various aspects of CRM in the Philippines, and the availability of NGO funding mechanisms. Finally, CRM flourishes in the Philippines due to the opportunities provided by the government through its policies to involve communities and other civil society actors in pursuing its mandates as manifested in important legislations providing for community participation.

"The aim of this paper is to show the growth of CRM in the country, the factors that are thought to have played crucial roles, the formal institutions that underpin its development, and the issues that need to be addressed for CRM to fully succeed."