TKI, ISU establish environmental governance institute
THE Tanggol Kalikasan Inc. (TKI) has partnered with the Isabela State University (ISU) for the establishment of the Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG), a strategic response to the ever-increasing demand for the capacity building of local government units (LGUs).
The formation of the IEG within the university was formalized in the recent signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) between TKI, represented by its executive director, Ma. Ronely Bisquera-Sheen, and ISU, represented by the university president, Ricmar Aquino.
According to TKI, the IEG launch is part of the Environmental Justice Sector Reform Project, or EJSRP Phase 3, with the coastal areas of Isabela as one of its focus areas. TKI issued a statement saying that the capacity building for the LGUs will “uphold environmental justice through environmental governance.”
Under the MoA, ISU will send faculty members to join the IEG Management, serving as institute core members through their theoretical and practical aspects of environmental governance. Aquino expressed his intent that, through the partnership, ISU will “fully share in protecting our environment and … promoting these kinds of goals.”
According to TKI, there are 28 IEG Centers in the Philippines distributed in Luzon which has 18, Visayas with three and Mindanao with six. These centers facilitate the three levels of the program which include mentoring, coaching, legal clinic, monitoring and evaluation after the IEG environmental governance training.
Bisquera-Sheen noted that TKI has been partnering with state universities and colleges all over the country “to sustainably provide the needed capacity of LGUs toward the extensive implementation of environmental laws.”
She named another objective: “The empowerment of communities and key institutions to manage their ecosystem using law and other creative mechanisms.” Established in 1987 as an environmental law program of the Haribon Foundation, TKI’s capacitybuilding program covers support for environmental law enforcement and constituency building, and organizational development.