About Us

Tanggol Kalikasan (TK) and Aurora State College of Technology (ASCOT) forged their first-ever Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on March 3, 2017, of which ASCOT was represented by its sitting President, Dr. Doracie B. Zoleta-Nantes, while TK was represented by its President, Ramon Grimaldo. In the MOU, both parties agree to enter into a partnership to establish and strengthen the Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG) Center. The first IEG Coordinator was Engr. Michael DeLeon, PhD., of the School of Engineering.

The IEG aims to cater to the training needs of Local Government Units (LGUs) and other stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in the area of environmental management, planning, protection, and conservation.

Moreover, the IEG Center is geared towards the development of appropriate training designs for the participants in these trainings, taking into account the integrated area approach in management, and to select highly qualified faculty to handle the trainings.

Lastly, to strengthen the research arm of the College, the Center aims to develop, conduct, and implement research programs in aid of curriculum development, monitoring, and evaluation.

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.

It is likewise imperative that local stakeholders, including civil society organizations, be capacitated to enable them to effectively participate in environmental governance in partnership with local government.

With the abovementioned gaps in environmental governance, State Colleges and Universities (SUCs), as part of their mandate in instruction, research, and extension, must play an important role through the established Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG) Center. The IEG Center Faculty are equipped with enough exposure, training, and research in local governance, environmental laws, watershed, protected area management, fishery issues, and environmental management.

Tanggol Kalikasan, on the other hand, as a public interest environmental law office with more than 3 decades of legal and education-related work in the Philippines, is a strong backbone for IEG Center to deliver its mandate.

The TK-ASCOT Institute of Environmental Governance Center is hosted under the School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences (SFES). It serves as the implementation arm of environmental governance, environmental management research and extension projects, and activities of the School through its identified core faculty and staff.

The IEG Center is been managed autonomously under a joint management scheme between ASCOT and Tanggol Kalikasan through their designated representative at the Management Committee (ManCom) and implemented by the Center Coordinator and Core Faculty.

The physical office, apart from the SFES Faculty, is expected to be established in 2026. The IEG Center has the following exclusive equipment: 1 laptop computer, 1 LCD projector, 1 colored printer, and, 1set of digital microphones.

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.

A roster of highly qualified individuals from the academe, government and the private sector who are equipped with both the theoretical and practical aspects of environmental governance shall be maintained. They shall become the core faculty members of each Institute. 

The IEG Training Program is fully accredited by the LoGoTRI-PhilNet with four stars rating. 

Subject to adjustment and specific training design for a particular ecosystem, the Institute’s training framework shall include: (1) Basic Ecological Principles (2) Applicable Resource Management Models (3) Relevant Environmental Policies (4) Basic Enforcement Skills (5) Integrated or Specific Area Action Planning (ASAP).

Each training shall have a duration of three (3) to four (4) days and will be presented using popular education techniques.