Village Level Provisioning Ecosystem Services and Their Values to Local Communities in the Peri-Urban Areas of Manila, The Philippines

Abstract

This study investigates different provisioning services in the peri-urban landscapes of Manila conurbation through a case study of two villages in the Jala-Jala municipality of the Laguna de Bay area in the Philippines. Laguna de Bay is an ecologically productive and important watershed for the urban and peri-urban areas of Manila for the provision of food, freshwater, and other materials. However, the lake and its ecosystem are under threat because of rapid urbanization and associated land-use changes. This study is based on a semi-quantitative survey conducted with 90 households in two villages: Special District and Paalaman. It was aimed to capture how provisioning services in the locality are connected with local livelihoods. The results obtained from the study suggest that landscapes in this peri-urban area still has considerable provisioning ecosystem services associated with local biodiversity and that this dependence on provisioning services and their relationship to peri-urban landscapes and biodiversity should be addressed for sustainable landscape management. The results have important implications for the conservation potential of biodiversity on which local livelihoods depend, in urban and peri-urban ecosystems.