Municipal ecobudget (Philippines)

EcoBudget is an environmental management system uniquely designed with and for local governments, developed by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. It allows municipalities to manage natural resources as efficiently as they manage financial resources. Traditionally ecosystem services, which we rely on for life, livelihoods and recreation, have not been systematically valued and budgeted for, but now that more than half the world’s population live in cities, it is crucial that local mayors find ways of integrating economic and ecological thinking for sustainability.

EcoBudget allows municipalities to plan, monitor and report on natural resource consumption within a municipal boundary. It has three main components which mimic the phases of the financial budgeting cycle: budget planning, spending and balancing. Citizen and stakeholder participation are strongly encouraged and are considered critical to success.

An ecoBudget in Tubigon, Philippines was initiated by fifteen local administrators, representatives from private and NGO sectors. The foundation of the economy in the region is agriculture, fishery and tourism, and the viability of the municipality depends upon the health of its natural resources, such as the mangroves, coral reefs, clean water and fertile soils. An ecoBudget has shown that these are critically important to rural and urban poor, as well as the tourist industry. Tubigon has found that the ecoBudget has become a useful tool in addressing poverty and other MDGs as well as protecting the environment, and is being used in other countries such as India, Sweden and Italy.