Our spring quarter seminar series continues with URBDP PhD student Aaron Lecciones presenting on May 7 in Gould Hall 440 from 12:30-1:30pm. This is an in-person seminar.
Title:
Community Perception on the Valuation of Wetland Ecosystem Services for Land Use Planning of a Protected Wetland: The Case of the Las Piñas – Parañaque Wetland Park, Philippines
Abstract:
This study investigates community perceptions regarding the valuation of wetland ecosystem services for land use planning in the Las Piñas – Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP), situated along the coasts facing Manila Bay, Philippines. Rapid urbanization, threats of reclamation for development, pollution, and shifting community attitudes towards the environment have transformed the land use of this coastal region, underscoring LPPWP’s status as the last coastal frontier of southern Manila Bay. The
LPPWP and similar protected areas situated in built environments are not alone in facing these uncertainties that affect how nature contributes to people’s wellbeing and consequently influences how community’s assign value to the environment (Scholte, et al. 2016, Pascual, et al. 2017). Many coastal cities across the world are experiencing these very same challenges. Wetlands, in particular, are important ecosystems that provide a long list of provisioning, regulatory, cultural and supporting services to human populations and are, in many cases, difficult to value and are sometimes unknown to the communities
they serve (Chan, et al. 2016). Encompassing mangroves, salt flats, lagoons, and ponds, and hosting over 80 bird species, the LPPWP’s roughly 182 hectares highlight the urgent need to align land use planning with community values to preserve the area’s critical ecosystem services (Scholte, et al. 2016). The primary questions this study addresses are: (1) How does the community perceive and value the wetland ecosystem services provided by the LPPWP, and (2) how can these perceptions inform and improve land use planning approaches within the area?
Employing both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods – including household surveys, key informant interviews, direct valuation, and narrative analysis – the study reveals a strong community preference for provisioning and cultural ecosystem services. Furthermore, it finds that the community is willing to support these services financially, through mechanisms such as an annual barangay tax (PHP 492), a per-use fee (PHP 130), or an annual entry fee into the park (over PHP 1,000). The study also finds that members of the community with more knowledge about wetlands were also
those who could more readily identify and assign value to wetland ecosystems services. To ensure the conservation of the LPPWP’s wetlands, the study recommends strategies aimed at enhancing community engagement in the land use planning process, prioritizing the cultural and provisioning ecosystem services valued by the community, making access more democratic for marginalized community members, and integrating the protected area’s management plans with ongoing master planning efforts in Manila Bay.
Associate Publication:
Amparo, J., Bibal, A., Cleland, D., Devanadera, M.C., Lecciones, A.J., Mendoza, M., Sanchez, E. (2022). Environmental Restorative Justice in the Philippines: The Innovations and Unfinished Business in Waterways Rehabilitation. In: Pali, B., Forsyth, M., and Tepper, F., eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_19.