Global environmental policy is promoting decentralization and devolution to the local level as a key to sustainable natural resource management. Yet rates of natural resource loss exceed the capacity of local government structures to remedy the situation without the active involvement of civil society and private sector. How to generate awareness and motivation among citizens and facilitate understanding of ecosystem linkages among decision-makers remains a challenge. This brief describes a unique initiative in which members of a rural Philippine community participated in collecting data about water conditions that was used by local government in making decisions about water management.