Abstract:
Environmental governance has many strands, a dominant one, and arguably the most attractive way to improve governance is decentralization, as this encompasses major transformations; consequently, reformers and scholars have set out to investigate this strategy. However, it is increasingly recognized that for decentralization to achieve the potential benefits of efficient and equitable provision of public goods, particularly in solid waste management, citizens need to send the appropriate information to local officials who can respond appropriately and, if not, they held accountable. I argue that for these conditions to hold, numerous institutional and societal characteristics need to be in place. Decentralized environmental governance cannot be separated with the specific local structures and institutional arrangements in place. These specifics are therefore pertinent to steer and limit the compliance of local government units to environmental policies. In this thesis, I argue that following decentralization, the solid waste management experience of Los Baños municipality demonstrate an enabled role of local government unit which allow them to innovate and chart its way leading to a meaningful best practices model. Although sustainability on the manner of environmental governance is an issue, the findings of this thesis indicate the potential role of local informal sector to evolve into a more appropriate and significant arrangements.