Restoring Balance in

Laguna Lake Region

2013 Ecological Footprint Report
2

Restoring Balance in Laguna Lake Region

2013 Ecological Footprint Report

Table of Contents

Global Footprint Network

U.S. Office
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Oakland, California 94607-3510 USA
+1-510-839-8879
www.footprintnetwork.org
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Brussels, Belgium
Geneva, Switzerland

The cover and pages of this book were

printed on 9lives Offset paper, which is
manufactured from 100% recycled fibre.
It is FSC and ISO 14001 certified.

01

Message from the President of the Philippines

63

03

Foreword
AusAID
Global Footprint Network

Next Steps
Resource Limits in Policy

67

09

Laguna Lake Development Authority

Message from the Laguna Lake Development Authority
The Evolution of LLDA: A Strategic Response

Appendix A.i.
Calculating the Ecological Footprint, Consumption,
Production and Biocapacity

71

19

Ecological Footprint, Biocapacity, and Overshoot

The Global Context

Appendix A.ii.
Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis for the Ecological
Footprint

75

25

The Philippines
Key Findings

Appendix A.iii.
Methods for calculating Biocapacity of LLDA Region

77

Acknowledgements

31

Laguna Lake Region

Four Decades of Ecological Change

41

Biocapacity of Laguna Lake Region

What is Biocapacity?
How Much Can Laguna Lake Region Provide Per Person?

49

Ecological Footprint of Laguna Lake Region

What is the Ecological Footprint?
The Global Hectare Metric
Our Ecological Footprint
The Consumption Land Use Matrix (CLUM)
Ecological Footprint for Producing Things

Message from the President

Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III

President, Republic of the Philippines
Chairperson, Climate Change Commission

Message from Global Footprint Network

Message from the AusAID

Ecological constraints have become a significant

determinant of economic success in the 21st century.
The trends of each component of the food-energyclimate nexus is amplified by their interconnection.
Each country is affected by these trends, but not
equally. It matters tremendously for each country
how it prepares itself. Therefore, it is Global Footprint
Networks mission to help decision-makers to
address this nexus so they can choose successful
strategies. We do this by offering decision-tools
that incorporate the reality of ecological limits. We
want these tools to support countries in making their
policies and investments most effective in this new
era of ecological constraints.
I am particularly thrilled with the Philippines
commitment to sustainable development. With the
leadership of the Office of the Presidents Climate
Change Commission and the French Agency for
Development, in 2012 the Philippines became the
first Southeast Asian country to adopt the Ecological
Footprint. Phase I, documented in A Measure for
Resilience: 2012 Report on the Ecological Footprint
of the Philippines, laid the foundation for ecological
resource accounting in the Philippines.
With support from AusAID in collaboration with
the Laguna Lake Development Authority, this 2013
report delineates Phase II, an in-depth look at
resource availability and consumption patterns for
the Laguna Lake region. Not only does this region
encompass the nations economic epicentre, Metro
Manila, it also houses the most vulnerable provinces
and municipalities to climate change and resource
degradation.

Indeed, the Philippines is developing quickly as its

economy shifts from agriculture to industry and
services, and its population grows. Though the
UNs Human Development Index has measured
major gains in the Philippines human development,
large portions of the population have yet to benefit.
Furthermore, the country has moved into a significant
biocapacity deficit, which could reverse human
development advancement, particularly as the global
competition for dwindling resources is accelerating
Yet we can sustain progress by prioritizing
development that works with natures budget.
Such development requires decision-making that
focuses on strengthening natural assets, rather
than generating short-term income from liquidating
them. In an ecologically constrained world, not
having sufficient access to natural capital can leave
a country economically, politically and socially
vulnerable.
We are confident the Philippines can build a resilient
economy with Ecological Footprint accounting. We
look forward to Phase III, a national sectorial analysis
that will illustrate how different sectors depend on
resources both within and beyond the countrys
borders and identify where economic risks and
opportunities exist. As it strives to live within the
means of nature, the Philippine government is forging
an innovative path for other countries to follow.

Dr. Mathis Wackernagel

President
Global Footprint Network

Rich natural resources

and rapid development

Rising incomes and

populations at risk

A life-giving lake and

flood-prone communities

The Laguna Lake region has it all...

How can it restore balance?

Laguna Lake
Development Authority

10

Message from the Laguna Lake Development Authority

The story of resource use in the Philippines has taken

on two different realities. The Philippines is endowed
with an abundance of natural resources, which
have provided for the livelihood and sustenance of
the Filipino people. On the one hand, the countrys
development path over decades has been heavily
resource-dependent and unsustainable. Overextraction and over-consumption of the countrys
natural resources have made the country more
vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate
change-related calamities. Such vulnerability further
threatens sustainable development, especially in
critical ecosystems that include highly populated
urban centers like that of the Laguna Lake Basin.
The Restoring Balance in Laguna Lake Region:
2013 Report on the Ecological Footprint of the
Region, a collaborative undertaking of the Laguna
Lake Development Authority, AusAID, the Climate
Change Commission, the Metro Manila Development

Authority, and Global Footprint Network, seeks

to determine the biocapacity of the Laguna Lake
region, which is among the richest, most productive
natural resources in the Philippines. It provides
key stakeholders, especially local governments,
an understanding of the Ecological Footprint
approach and how their decisions can have profound
implications to the overall health of the lake basin
and the communities who directly rely on it.
The accounting for the biocapacity and Ecological
Footprint of the Laguna Lake region marks a
paradigm shift in the countrys deeper appreciation
and wise utilization of its resource-rich ecosystems.
With this new lens with which to view and shape
policy on sustainable growth and natural resource
management, the country can move towards not only
a more sustainable development track but a more
resilient and climate-adaptive future.

Secretary JR Nereus O. Acosta, Ph.D.

General Manager
Laguna Lake Development Authority /
Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection
11

12

Provinces & Municipalities

in the Laguna Lake Region
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
LLDA JURISDICTION

CITIES
RIZAL

Manila
Mandaluyong
Marikina
Pasig
Quezon City
Caloocan
San Juan
Muntinlupa
Pasay

MANILA

LAGUNA
DE BAY

Malabon
Pateros
Navotas
Taguig
Valenzuela
Las Pias
Makati
Paranaque

Manila
Marikina
Pasig
Quezon City
Caloocan
Muntinlupa
Pasay
Pateros
Taguig

CAVITE
LAGUNA
QUEZON

BATANGAS

13

REGION IV A, CALABARZON
PROVINCES

LLDA JURISDICTION

Batangas
31 municipalities, 3 cities

Municipalities: Malvar, Sto. Tomas

City: Tanauan

Cavite
17 municipalities, 6 cities

Municipalities: Carmona, GMA, Silang

City: Tagaytay

Laguna
25 municipalities, 5 cities

All 25 municipalities
All 5 cities

Quezon
39 municipalities, 2 cities

Municipalities: Lucban

Rizal
13 municipalities, 1 city

All 13 municipalities
1 city
14

The Evolution of the LLDA A Strategic Response

Recognizing the vast potentials of the lake and its

environs for further development and the perceived
threats from the rapidly changing character of the
lake region, the political leaders of the provinces
of Rizal and Laguna moved to enact in the early
60s a legislation that was geared towards the
management of the lake and its resources, and to
control environmental degradation. Their initiative
was intended to facilitate rational utilization of the
lake resources. They envisioned that the creation
of an Authority would facilitate cooperation,
coordination and pooling of resources among
national government agencies, local governments
and the private sector (Francisco 1985).
On July 18, 1966, the Laguna Lake Development
Authority was created through Republic Act 4850:
An Act Creating the Laguna Lake Development
Authority, Prescribing Its Powers, Functions, and
Duties, Providing Funds Thereof and for Other
Purposes. As stated in the law, its mandate is
to promote and accelerate the development and
balanced growth of the Laguna Lake area and the
surrounding provinces, cities and townswith due
regard and adequate provisions for environmental
management and control, preservation of the
quality of human life and ecological systems, and
the prevention of undue ecological disturbances,
deterioration and pollution. It also reflects the
wisdom of the lawmakers in creating a separate
15

agency to manage the lake amidst the multiple

political jurisdictions in the watershed.
Three years after the enactment of R.A.4850,
the LLDA was organized as a semi-government
corporation. Presidential Decree (P.D.) 813 of
1975 further expanded LLDAs mandate to
address environmental concerns and conflicts
over jurisdiction and control of the lake. This was
followed by Executive Order (E.O.) 927 of 1983,
which further strengthened the institutional, financial
and administrative responsibilities of the Authority
including its regulatory functions in industrial pollution.
The LLDA coordinates with over 30 environment
and natural resources and water-related agencies/
offices and the 66 local government units (LGUs)
within the watershed, each with their policy and
planning, regulation and infrastructure development,
environment and fishery-related functions.
Policy Coordination Through the LLDA Board of
Directors. At the policy level, the LLDA Board of
Directors acts as a Collegial Body for Participative
Policy Decision Making. The LLDA Board is
composed of representatives of the following
agencies and organizations: Office of the President,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
National Economic and Development Authority,
Department of Trade and Industry, Metropolitan

Manila Development Authority, Province of Rizal,

Province of Laguna, Leagues of Mayors of Rizal and
Laguna Provinces, private investors, and the LLDA
through the General Manager as ex-officio member.
The lake watershed encompasses 66 local
government units in five provinces, hence active
coordination between the LLDA and LGUs in lake
sustainability through the representatives of the
Mayors' Leagues of Rizal and Laguna in the Board,
Governors of Rizal and Laguna provinces and the
Federation of River Basin Councils, Inc., and at the
operating level.
However, the LLDA Board is not all-inclusive in
terms of representation of key players in policy
and program decision-making. There are more

than 30 water-related government agencies,

non-governmental and private organizations
operating in the Laguna de Bay Region, which are
not represented in the current Board, each with
separately formulated and implemented policies,
mandates, and programs and striving to meet
relatively narrow and stand-alone goals.
Co-Financing Arrangements
Committed to continually espouse the sustainable
development of the Laguna de Bay basin, the
LLDA developed the Laguna de Bay Institutional
Strengthening and Community Participation
(LISCOP) Project. Implemented since 2004, the
project finances out of loan proceeds from the World
Bank and an equivalent grant from the Netherlands
16

Stakeholders of Laguna de Bay

17

LIC

YM

AK

EU
RC
RE
SO
U

ER

LAGUNA
DE BAY
REGION

ERS
N
N
PLA ATORS
DIN
OOR

L
MA DERS
R
L
O
INF KEHO
STA

LGU

DE

VE
L

OP

ER

&C

research
& development

Santos-Borja, Adelina and Dolora Nepomuceno. Laguna Lake Brief: Experience and Lessons Learned Sharing, World Bank-ILEC: 2004
LLDA. Integrated Policy and Institutional Framework for the Laguna de Bay Region. 2003.
LLDA-Tetra Tech EM, Inc. Institutional Re-engineering Studies Report. 2001.
Nepomuceno, Dolora. River Basin Study Visit in Spain: Discussion Paper for the Laguna de Bay Basin, 2010.
Palma, A., Diamante, A. and Pol, R. (1997) Stock assessment of the major fishery resources of the Laguna de Bay. Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources, Tanay, Rizal, Philippines.
Jaraula C.M.B. (2001) Changes in Slinity and Sediment Supply in Laguna de Bay During the Past 6,000 years. Master's Thesis. College of
Science. niversity of the Philippines.

PO

RS

Stakeholders of the Laguna de Bay

watershed are grouped into the
following categories: (i) regulators;
(ii) policy makers, planners and
coordinators; (iii) developers
(land and water) including those
into infrastructure development
and provision of basic services;
(iv) research and development
institutions; (v) resource users; (vi)
LGUs; and (vii) informal stakeholders.

TO
LA

LLDAs Ecological Footprint project in partnership

with Global Footprint Network, funded by AusAID,
is a natural evolution of these efforts to manage and
protect the natural assets of the Laguna Lake region.
Through use of the Ecological Footprint, LLDA will
continue to work with its multi-stakeholders from
numerous natural resources agencies, to local
government units, to communities and households
within the region to bring resource limits to the core
of our policy and investment decisions.

SE
RS

since March 2004 and will close in April 2014.

GU
RE

government. With this initiative, the LLDA optimizes

the level of interaction of the environmental,
economic, and institutional dimensions of resource
use and management, through a combination the
following strategic interventions, which also form the
integral components of the LISCOP. These are a) comanaged investments for watershed development
(component 1); and b) strengthening institutions and
instruments (component 2). The end-goal is to secure
sustainability in effective basin water resources
management, institutional building, and poverty
alleviation in the area. The project has been effective

18

19

Ecological Footprint,
Biocapacity, and Overshoot

20

The Global Context

Biocapacity
In 2012, Global Footprint Network and the Climate
Change Commission of the Philippines released A
Measure for Resilience, a report on the Ecological
Footprint of the country. The most recent data
at the time reflected a stark reality: At the global
level, humanitys demand was exceeding what the
Earth could renewably provide. This is what we
call ecological overshoot a situation humanity
has been in year after year since the 1970s.
Unfortunately, this year is no different.
From deforestation to climate change, physical
symptoms of overshoot continue to increase in
frequency and magnitude. Why? Because we can
only live in ecological overshoot for so long before
we see signs of collapse. There are only so many
fish we can harvest, so many trees we can cut down,
and so many tonnes of CO2 we can emit before the
Earths ecosystems can no longer keep up. We have
long reached that point.
In a finite world, overshoot means greater
competition for limited resources. If a country is lowincome and running an ecological deficit, it will be
more challenging to secure resources from the world,
and more likely that the world will secure resources
from it. Sadly, the most vulnerable populations will
be impacted the most: Without adequate access
to resources for basic needs such as food, shelter
and clothing, sustainable development cannot be
21

achieved. That is why it is in the self-interest of

nations to take action by placing resource limits at
the core of their decision-making. This requires tools
to track and manage valuable natural assets.
The Ecological Footprint can help us live within our
ecological budget. It measures the biologically
productive land and marine area required, using
prevailing technology and resource management
practices, to provide the renewable resources
food, fiber and timberthat a population consumes,
to absorb its emitted wastes (particularly carbon
dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use), and to
locate its infrastructure. This demand in turn can be
compared with the productive area available, or the
Earths biocapacity.
Different types of area-- forest, fisheries, cropland
and grazing landvary in their inherent productivity.
Within each type, some areas are more productive
or higher yielding than others. After adjusting
for these differences, a hectare with world
average productivity, or global hectare (gha), is
used to measure both the Ecological Footprint
and biocapacity. This unit is similar to using a
standardized monetary unit, such as the U.S. dollar
or Philippine peso, for financial accounts.
In 2009, the last year for which data are currently
available, the Earths biocapacity was almost

12billion ha. This is equal to 12 billion gha since

global hectares represent world average hectares. At
the same time, humanitys Ecological Footprint was,
according to Global Footprint Networks calculations,
over 17.6 billion gha, more than 1.5 times the planets
capacity to keep up with this demand.
This means that biological resources were being
harvested faster than they could be regenerated,
and that carbon was being emitted faster than plants
could remove it from the atmosphere.
Ecological Footprint accounts are based on
international statistics from the United Nations, the
International Energy Agency, and other sources,
using about 6000 data points per country and year.
They begin in 1961, when humanitys Footprint was
only about two-thirds of the planets biocapacity. To
date, Global Footprint Network has the Ecological
Footprint and biocapacity trends of 241 countries.
While global biocapacity has been growing slowly,
largely due to increasing agricultural yields,
humanitys Footprint has been growing much more
rapidly, primarily as a result of an expanding world
population and increasing per capita consumption
in some regions. Around 1970, humanitys Footprint
began exceeding global biocapacity, and this
overshoot has been increasing ever since.

Biological capacity, the ability of an ecosystem to

regenerate and provide services that compete for
space. This includes producing useful biological
materials and absorbing waste such as carbon dioxide
emissions from fossil fuel.

Biocapacity Deficit

The difference between the Ecological Footprint and

biocapacity of a region or country. An ecological deficit
occurs when the Footprint of a population exceeds the
biocapacity of the area available to that population.

Ecological Footprint

A measure of how much area of biologically productive

land and water an individual, population or activity
requires to produce all the resources it consumes and
to sequester its waste. Because of data limitations, the
main waste included in the presented national Footprint
calculations is carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning.
Both Ecological Footprint and biocapacity results are
expressed in a globally comparable, standardized
unit called global hectare - hectare of biologically
productive land or sea area with world average
bioproductivity in a given year.

Ecological Overshoot

When a populations demand on an ecosystem exceeds

the capacity of that ecosystem to regenerate the
demand. Overshoot results in ecological assets being
diminished, including carbon waste being accumulated
in the atmosphere.

22

The Ecological Footprint enables governments to

identify risks and opportunities associated with
their populations resource consumption, and
allows them to base policies and investments
on this key data. It also allows them to track and
manage resources over time, helping to ensure
the stability of their economies, and the well-being
of their people.

23

EF = EF + (EF - EF )
C

Figure 1.
GLOBAL TRENDS

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN NUMBER OF PLANETS

The Ecological Footprint can be applied to human

activity at different scales. At the national level,
it is assumed that everything that is produced
in a country is consumed in that country, less
that which is exported plus what is imported.
That Ecological Footprint of Consumption is the
most commonly reported part of the Footprint
calculation, and is commonly referred to as The
Ecological Footprint or The Footprint. National
biocapacity, in turn, is based on the yield-adjusted
resource productivity of the forest, fisheries,
cropland, grazing land and built-up areas within
the countrys borders.

built up land

grazing land

FISHING GROUND

cropland

forest land

cARBON FOOTPRINT

one planet biocapacity

Ecological
Footprint
of Consumption
The Ecological Footprint of
consumption indicates the
consumption of biocapacity by a
countrys inhabitants.

Humanitys Ecological Footprint by land area, 19612008. The largest component of humanitys Ecological
Footprint today is the carbon Footprint (55 percent).
This component represents more than half the
Ecological Footprint for one-quarter of the countries
tracked, and it is the largest component for nearly half
of the 241 countries, regions and territories assessed
by the National Footprint Accounts.

In order to assess the total domestic

demand for resources and
ecological services of a population,
we use the Ecological Footprint of
consumption (EFc). EFc accounts
for both the export of national
resources and ecological services
for use in other countries, and the
import of resources and ecological
services for domestic consumption.
EFc is most amenable to change by
individuals through changes in their
consumption behavior

Ecological
Footprint
of Production

Net Ecological
Footprint
of Trade

The Ecological Footprint

of production indicates the
consumption of biocapacity resulting
from production processes within
a given geographic area, such as a
country or region.

The Ecological Footprint of

imports and exports indicate the
use of biocapacity within
international trade.

It is the sum of all the bioproductive

areas within a country necessary
for supporting the actual harvest
of primary products (cropland,
pasture land, forestland and fishing
grounds), the countrys built-up area
(roads, factories, cities), and the
area needed to absorb all fossil fuel
carbon emissions generated within
the country.
This measure mirrors the gross
domestic product (GDP), which
represents the sum of the values of
all goods and services produced
within a countrys borders.

Embedded in trade between

countries is a use of biocapacity,
the net Ecological Footprint of trade
(the Ecological Footprint of imports
minus the Ecological Footprint of
exports). If the Ecological Footprint
embodied in exports is higher than
that of imports, then a country is a
net exporter of renewable resources
and ecological services.
Conversely, a country whose
Footprint of imports is higher than
that embodied in exports depends
on the renewable resources and
ecological services generated by
ecological assets from outside its
geographical boundaries.

24

The Philippines:
Key Findings
25

26

Composition
of the Ecological Footprint in the Philippines
Since the 1960s, the Philippines total Ecological
Footprint has nearly tripled.

The largest component of the countrys Ecological

Footprint is cropland (35 percent); followed by fishing
grounds (24 percent), carbon (22 percent), forest land
(8 percent) and built-up land (5 percent).
The Philippines is a country that is facing rapid
change, with an economy that has shifted and
continues to shift from agriculture to industry and
services. This change, along with the needs of a
growing population, means that the country is more
dependent on biocapacity from other countries than
ever before. While this is not uncommon in a global

27

24%

35%
GLOBAL HECTARES (IN bILLIONS)

The average Footprint of people in the Asia-Pacific

region is 1.6 global hectares per person. The
Ecological Footprint of the average Philippines
resident was 1.2 gha in 2009, within the limits of
the world average available biocapacity of 1.8 gha.
However, there was only 0.6 gha of biocapacity
available per resident, meaning that the average
citizens demands exceeded what the countrys
ecosystem could provide for them.

TOTAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF CONSUMPTION

BIOCAPACITY

8%

5%

Figure 4.

Figure 3.
PHILIPPINE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF CONSUMPTION
AND BIOCAPACITY

cropland

grazing land

built up land

CARBON

forest land

FISHING GROUND

22%

TOTAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF CONSUMPTION

BIOCAPACITY
GLOBAL HECTARES (IN bILLIONS)

In 2009, the last year for which data are currently

available, the nation demanded more than twice
what it had in available capacity.

Figure 2.
GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF CONSUMPTION
AND BIOCAPACITY

economy, this growing dependence poses risks in a

resource-constrained world.

population those who cannot afford to pay higher

prices who will suffer the most.

For example, other results show that food is a major

component of the average households ecological
budget in the Philippines. Since food is directly linked
to world food prices and is exposed to volatility,
this creates a food security risk for the nation. In
these situations, it is the most vulnerable among the

Without adequate resources, any progress in human

development or the economy cannot last. As the
Philippines strives toward increasing economic
security and improving lives of its residents,
incorporating environmental realities in all its
planning will help ensure continued success.

28

Biocapacity Deficit
What does it mean for the Philippines?

1.8 gha/capita

1.6 gha/capita

Figure 5.
ecological footprint

BIOCAPACITY
AVAILABLE
PER PERSON

PHILIPPINE AVERAGE

0.6 gha/capita
1.2 gha/capita

29

biocapacity

In 2009, the last year for which data

are currently available, the nation
demanded more than twice what it
had in available capacity.

30

Laguna Lake Region:

Four Decades of
Ecological Change

31

32

The Laguna Lake Region is one of the most

important and dynamic natural resource in the
country. The region, which more or less corresponds
to the basin, is among the fastest growing economic
bases in the Philippines. Because of its unique
features, multiplicity of uses and strategic location,
economic activities, population increase, rapid
industrialization and urbanization have led to
changes in the ecological milieu of the lake and its
surrounding region over the past decades.
Land Use Changes
During the last 30 years, the Laguna Lake watershed
has experienced land-use changes characterized
by rapid deforestation and urbanization. Large
areas of the watershed were converted to industrial,
commercial and residential uses as a result of
peri-urban expansion of Manila. In rural areas,
population pressure and lack of alternative livelihood
opportunities led to the cleaning and cultivation
of uplands and over harvesting of forest products
(e.g. subsistence logging, firewood gathering and
charcoal production), causing denudation of the
lakes micro watersheds. The need is quite evident
to reforest the denuded forest lands and the
steeply sloping grasslands. There is also a need
to maintain at least the remaining agricultural lands

33

for food security and food self-sufficiency target

considerations. And urban expansion has to be
rationalized and regulated in terms of minimizing
the random leapfrogging behavior of residential and
other urban activities (LLDA Spatial Development
Masterplan for the Laguna de Bay Basin, 2011).
Implications to Water Quality
Increased sedimentation from denuded uplands,
contaminants from agricultural activities, domestic
wastes, industrial discharges, effluents from dumpsites
and intensification of fish production take their toll on
the water quality of the lake. There are no treatment
systems for domestic waste and most industries and
agricultural operations do not have adequate pollution
abatement systems. Until recently most of solid wastes
collected by LGUs end up in open dumpsites whose
effluents flow into the lake. The observed levels of water
quality parameters confirmed the present condition of
the lake as polluted and stressed aquatic ecosystem.
This poor water quality has severely diminished Laguna
Lakes potential for transport and recreational uses and
as source for domestic water. The lake water quality is
currently classified as Class C or fit for fishing, but not
for swimming and contact recreation (Class B). With
appropriate technologies, the lake water may be treated
for drinking.

34

Laguna de Bay
MANILA RIZAL

CAVITE
LAGUNA

SURFACE WATER

2,250 million m3

WATERSHED

Its surface waters

cover approximately
900 square kilometers.

The lake can hold up

to 2,250 million cubic
meters of water.

The lake is replenished every eight

months by waters flowing through a
watershed area of around 282 square
kilometers, clearly delineating three
distinct bays: West Bay, Central Bay
and East Bay.

LAND AREA

PROVINCES

RIVERS & STREAMS

The total land area of the

lake region (administrative
jurisdiction) is 3,880 km2,
which is approximately
1.3% of the country's land
area of 300,000 km2.

The watershed is occupied

by the provinces of Rizal
and Laguna and partly by
the National Capital Region,
and the provinces of Cavite,
Batangas and Quezon,
consisting of 8 cities and 49
municipalities.

Roughly 100 rivers and streams drain

into the lake.

QUEZON
BATANGAS

1.3%

Over one-third of the lake waters

come from the Pagsanjan-Lumban
River, 18-20% from the Sta. Cruz
River, and half from the remaining
tributaries.
The lakes only outlet is the Napindan
Channel, which links the Pasig and
Marikina Rivers. The Pasig River
connects the lake to Manila Bay.

35

36

Biodiversity and Fishery

Laguna de Bay is classified as a Class C inland water,
which means it is suitable for fishery.

1960s
Rampant dredging to sustain
the duck industry causes a
decrease in snail population.
Connected with this industry
is the making of balut, a
native delicacy of boiled
unhatched duck embryo.

1970s
The introduction of aquaculture
leads to the increase in the
population of catfish.

In Laguna de Bay, there were 23 species of fish

belonging to 16 families and 19 genera. The most
dominant and important species were Therapon
plumbeus and Glossogobius giurus (white goby)
(Delmendo and Bustillo 1968). Most of the stock were
migratory species but scarce in distribution due to the
pollution of the Pasig River, suggesting high mortality
of migrating fry. Stocking the lake with milkfish was
reported to be in practice since 1959. This was one
of the reasons for the accidental introduction of
other species. The practice went on since milkfish
command a higher price in the market (Santos-Borja
and Nepomuceno, 2004).
During the same period, there was a significant
decrease in snail population due to rampant dredging
to sustain the duck industry notably in the eastern
towns of Rizal Province. Connected with this industry
is the making of balut, a native delicacy of boiled
unhatched duck embryo. Almost twenty years after,
there was a tremendous decrease in the number of
duck farms. Snail dredging was also one cause of the
alarming decline in the population of the sea catfish
(Arius manilensis) which used to constitute the fishery
of Laguna de Bay.

A few years after the introduction of aquaculture in

the early seventies, the population of catfish started
to increase. It has slowly increased its population
mostly near the fish pen areas where they seek
shelter. The decline in population in the previous
years could be more due to habitat destruction than
the decline in the snail population (Santos-Borja and
Nepomuceno, 2004).
Aquaculture remained a very lucrative business in
the lake and this encouraged the culture of other
species like tilapia and the bighead carp. The stock
assessment of major fishery resources done by
Palma and Pol (1997) showed that the open water
catch was composed of 13 species, including the
shrimp commonly found in the lake. Of the fish
species, the most commonly caught were Tilapia sp.,
H. nobilis and A. manilensis.
At present, there are no recorded endemic species in
Laguna de Bay, probably because it is a very young
lake, formed some 6,000 years ago (Jaraula, 2001).
Likewise, its link to Manila Bay and the introduction
of non-native species could have contributed to this
phenomenon.

1990s
37

Aquaculture encourages the

culture of tilapia and bighead carp.

38

Water Quality
Laguna de Bay is classified as a Class C inland water
(DENR 1990), which means it is suitable for fishery.
Critical levels of pollution were already detected in
1973 (SOGREAH 1974). About 5,000 tons of nitrogen
were estimated to have entered the lake, 26 percent
of which was domestic, 36 percent from livestock
and poultry, 5 percent from industrial sources, 11
percent from fertilizers and 22 percent from the
Pasig River backflow. In 1995, of about 66,305 tons/
year of BOD loading, estimates show that the main
source had shifted from industrial (21 percent) to
domestic (65 percent), while the contributions from
agricultural sources (13 percent) and forest areas (1
percent) did not manifest significant changes. This
trend continued into the next decade such that in
2000, out of 74,300 metric tons/year of BOD loading,
around 69 percent came from domestic and 19
percent from industrial sources, while agriculture
manifested slightly lower loading (11.5 percent) and
forest areas (1 percent) the same level (LLDA-DSS
2005). In 2010, calculated 81,701 metric tons/year of
BOD loading into the Laguna Lake was contributed
by domestic sources (about 78 percent) ,industrial
sources 11 percent, agricultural sources 10 percent
and 1 percent from denuded forest (LLDA-DSS 2012;
LISCOP M&E Report). On the other hand, for the
same period (1995-2010) dissolved oxygen levels
have consistently been much better (from 7 to more
39

than 9 mg/L) than the 5 mg/L Class C criterion. The

current state of the lake is eutrophic. Several
factors contributed to this present condition:
population pressures, industries mostly found in
the densely populated west bay area, and intensive
agriculture and land-use conversion, which increased
sediment loading in the lake.
History of Flood Disasters
Because of its location and ecological challenges,
the Laguna Lake Region is among the most
vulnerable to natural disasters in the country. There
were historical records of flood disasters occurring in
the lake region for many years. The most recent and
most damaging flood events were typhoon Milenyo
(September 2006), typhoon Ondoy (September
2009), typhoon Pepeng (October 2009), and typhoon
Santi (October 2009). Overall, the damages and
losses inflicted by these typhoons in 2006 and 2009
in the Laguna Lake Region were 1,233 dead, injured
and missing, 318,055 damaged residences, PhP 2.12
billion damage to agriculture (PDNA, 2009).
A 2010 synthesis report of the World Bank (WB),
Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) estimates
that the costs of flooding ranged from PhP 15 billion
($337 million without climate change, 1-in-10-year
floods) to PhP 111 billion ($2.5 billion with climate
change, 1-in-100-year floods.) These impacts

translate to roughly 3 to 24 percent of greater Metro

Manila and Laguna Lake Regions Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
The report notes that flooding in Metro Manila is
caused by the limited capacity of most upstream
river channels draining into the Laguna Lake to
confine floodwaters, the slow-flow capacity of
the outlet channel from the Laguna Lake, and the
declining capacity of the Laguna Lake itself to serve
as a detention reservoir for floodwaters.

As LLDA celebrates 44 years of existence, it is

mindful of the four decades of human activities that
have changed and shaped the landscape of this
region. It remains committed to restoring ecological
balance to the lake, the region and its people,
and transforming this all-important resource as a
focal center of climate-resilient and sustainable
development for the region and the country as a
whole. The Ecological Footprint will play a major role
in these efforts, now, and well into the future.

40

Biocapacity of
Laguna Lake Region

41

42

Biocapacity
What is it?

FISHING GROUNDS*
The area of marine and inland waters
used to harvest fish and other seafood.

GRAZING LAND

CROPLAND

FOREST LAND

The area of grassland used, in addition

to crop feeds, to raise livestock for
meat, dairy, hide and wool products.

The area required to produce food and

fiber for human consumption, feed for
livestock, oil crops and rubber.

FOR PRODUCTS
The area of forest required to support
the harvest of fuel wood, pulp and
timber products.

Biocapacity is a measure of the amount of

biologically productive land and sea area available
to provide the ecosystem services humanity uses.
We could call it the supply side of our ecological
budget. It is natures regenerative capacity.
(See appendix for methodology.) The amount
of biocapacity varies over time. This is driven
by changes in managing practices, agricultural
inputs, water supply, climate and soil conditions.

Overuse can also degrade biocapacity. Per capita

biocapacity, or the amount of biocapacity available
per person, declines as populations increase. For
centuries, we have treated biocapacity as a provider
of an essentially limitless flow. Today, though,
humanitys demand for biocapacity outstrips global
supply by 50 percent. In the Asia-Pacific region,
demands on biocapacity now exceed the regions
supply by 90 percent. Japan and South Korea

BUILT-UP LAND
FOR SEQUESTRATION
The forest area required to
sequester human-produced
CO2 emissions, primarily from
fossil fuels burning, that are not
absorbed by oceans.

demand six to seven times more from nature than

their ecosystems can provide. China demands
2.4 times more ecological resources and services
than China's ecosystems regenerate. In a world of
growing ecological overshootwhen humanitys
demands for natures products and services exceed
the planets ability to renew themthis dependence
on external biocapacity becomes a significant
risk. It means that humanitys economic activities

The biologically productive areas

covered by human infrastructure,
including transportation, housing and
industrial structure.

are fuelled by depleting the planets ecological

assetsa strategy that cannot last. Cities and
countries trapped in energy- and resource-intensive
infrastructure and economic activities will become
fragile. If they cannot minimize their dependence,
they will not be able to adapt in time to meet
emerging challenges.

* These calculations did not take biocapacity from fishing grounds into account due to insufficient data.
43

44

How Much Can Laguna Lake Region Provide Per Person?

14%
Figure 6.
The Philippines household Footprint by
Consumption Land Use categories
cropland

occupied by infrastructure, and thus not available for

other use. The second largest portion was cropland
at 34 percent; followed by grazing land at 15 percent,
and forest land at 14 percent (FIG.6).1

The Laguna Lake region spans 370,000 hectares.

But because these hectares are biologically far more
productive than world average, they correspond to
810,000 global hectares (gha). On average, hectares
in the Laguna Lake region are even 10 percent
more productive than the rest of the country. More
than half (53 percent) of this biocapacity comes
from Laguna province, which has 390,000 gha of
biocapacity. This is because it is both a large portion
of the region, and contains fertile land close to the
Laguna Lake. In comparison, Rizal province, with
the second highest biocapacity in the region, has
180,000 gha.

While Laguna province is an ecological powerhouse,

and the region is more productive than the rest of
the country, its biocapacity is insufficient to meet
the needs of the regions growing population, which
was 14,600,000 in 2009. Biocapacity per capita in
Laguna Lake region is 0.06 gha, only one-twelfth of
the average biocapacity per person for a Philippine
resident (FIG.7).

In 2009, the most recent year for which data were

available, built-up land was the largest portion (37
percent) of Laguna Lake regions total biocapacity
a reflection of the rapid development in the region,
particularly in Metro Manila. Built-up land includes
biologically productive areas covered by human
infrastructure. It is counted proportional to its
agricultural potential not for what it is producing
now. These areas are considered exclusively

When looking at the biocapacity breakdown for

Laguna Lake region, the 0.06 gha per person
translates to approximately: 0.02 gha of cropland;
0.008 gha of grazing land; 0.008 gha of forest land;
and built-up land. Imagine if these 0.02 gha of
cropland were dedicated to only growing rice; if the
grazing portion of the individuals biocapacity only
provided beef, and if the forest land only produced
timber.

1 These calculations did not take biocapacity from fishing grounds into account due to insufficient data.
45

built up land

37%

forest land
grazing land

15%

34%
Figure 7.

WORLD

PHILIPPINES

LLDA

METRO MANILA

TOTAL BIOCAPACITY

TOTAL BIOCAPACITY

TOTAL BIOCAPACITY

TOTAL BIOCAPACITY

12,000,000,000 gha

52,000,000

810,000

140,000

POPULATION (2009)

POPULATION (2009)

POPULATION (2009)

POPULATION (2009)

6,800,000,000

85,000,000

14,600,000

8,600,000

BIOCAPACITY / CAPITA

BIOCAPACITY / CAPITA

BIOCAPACITY / CAPITA

BIOCAPACITY / CAPITA

1.76 gha/person

0.61

0.06 gha/person

0.02
46

What can 0.06 gha provide per person in Laguna Lake Region
compared to what is available in other regions and the world?

CROPLAND

Figure 8.

REGION

GRAZING LAND

LAND AREA

TOTAL FOOD
ENERGY1

(SQM)

(KCAL/PERSON/DAY)

TOTAL FOOD
ENERGY2

FORESTS
LAND AREA

IF ONLY TIMBER
WAS GROWN3

(SQM)

(CM)

60

300

20

67

PHILIPPINES

1100

6000

36

800

20

WORLD

1700

9200

500

6400

160

METRO MANILA
LAGUNA LAKE REGION

0.03
2

0.06 gha

If only rice were grown (kcal/person/day)

If only beef were raised (kcal/person/day)
3
length of a 2x4 piece of wood per day per person (in cm)
1
2

For example, there is about 1 sq. meter of cropland in the Metro Manila area per person.
This area, if dedicated entirely to rice production, would provide on average 7 kcal of rice per
day (or about 65 grains of rice).

Of course, most regions do not depend solely on

natural resources from within their own borders,
though many, such as Laguna Lake region, provide
resources to other regions. So the question is: Do
they, in net terms, need more than what they have?
To compensate for their biocapacity deficit, residents
from Laguna Lake region must depend more on
resources outside the region, as well as beyond the
Philippines. However, as resources become more
scarce and the world more crowded, it will become
more difficult to do so; and the most vulnerable

47

those who cannot afford to pay the higher prices

for basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing will
suffer the most.
Laguna Lake region, rich in biocapacity, has an
opportunity to seek development that works
with natures budget, rather than overextending
themselves and liquidating nature. If this balance can
be achieved, advances in human development, and
economic progress can be sustained.

48

Ecological Footprint of
Laguna Lake Region

49

50

The
Ecological
Footprint

crop LAND

FOREST LAND

carbon
built-up land

GRAZING LAND

fishING GROUND
While biocapacity measures the supply of ecological
assets, the Ecological Footprint measures humanitys
demand on them. More specifically, the Ecological
Footprint is an accounting tool that measures the
amount of biologically productive land and sea
area required to produce the renewable resources
a population (or an activity) consumes and to
absorb its waste, using prevailing technology and
51

management practices. (Due to constraints in

globally consistent data, national calculations only
take CO2 into account when looking at waste.) A
populations Ecological Footprint can be compared
with the biocapacity that is availabledomestically
or globallyto support that population, just as
expenditure is compared with income in financial
assessments. If a populations demand for ecological

assets exceeds the countrys supply, that country

is running a biocapacity deficit. Conversely, when
demand for ecological assets is less than the
biocapacity available within a countrys borders,
the country has a biocapacity reserve. A national
biocapacity deficit means that the country is either
importing embedded biocapacity through trade,

liquidating its own ecological assets, or turning to

the global commons. In contrast to biocapacity
deficits at the national scale, the global biocapacity
deficit cannot be compensated for through trade or
using distant commons. Global biocapacity deficits
therefore are by definition the same as overshoot.

52

The Global Hectare Metric

Figure 9.

As mentioned earlier in this report, both Ecological

Footprint and biocapacity results are expressed
in global hectares (gha)standardized hectares
of productive area with world average biological
productivity of a given year. This makes hectares
globally comparable. Actual areas of different land
use types (in hectares) are converted into their
global hectare equivalents by using yield factors and
equivalence factors as explained in the appendix.
Different types of areaforest, fisheries, cropland
and grazing land vary in their biological
productivity. In general, croplands occupy the most
productive areas: They are typically flat, endowed
with good soils, and have access to sufficient water.
Global Footprint Network assessments estimate
world average biological productivity for each area
type. Yields also differ widely within each area type.
For example, some forestssuch as a tropical
forestare highly productive, while other forests
can be very low in productivitysuch as a tundra
where trees grow very slowly and winters are harsh,
or forests on the edge of savannas with sparse trees
and dry conditions. Global hectares therefore adjust
the physical hectare for its productivity. For example,
a hectare of fertile cropland would represent more
global hectares than one hectare of grazing land,
since cropland is able to generate and renew more
biological activity than is typical grazing land.

53

Conversely, a larger physical area in grazing land

would be needed to provide the same biocapacity as
the same physical area of cropland. Because world
bioproductivity varies slightly over time, the value of
a global hectare changes from year to year.
Using global hectares as a unit to measure
biocapacity is similar to using a standardized
monetary unit, such as the U.S. dollar or Philippine
peso, for financial accounting.
As mentioned previously, since the 1970s, humanity
has been in ecological overshoot, meaning that its
annual demand on ecosystems exceeds what Earth
is able to provide in any given year. Before, individual
cities and countries ran biocapacity deficits. But now
humanitys aggregate demand exceeds what Earth
can renew.
According to Global Footprint Networks most
recent National Footprint Accounts, an ecological
accounting data set that tracks global resource and
consumption trends, in 2008 humanity consumed
ecological resources and services 1.5 times faster
than Earth could renew thema 100 percent jump
from 1961, when people used approximately three
quarters of the planets biocapacity. If trends follow
even the more moderate projections of UN agencies,
humanity would require the resources of almost three
Earths by mid-century.

Earth cannot sustain such levels of overshoot. For a

limited time, overshoot is possible, but at the cost of
depletion and degradation. Weaker natural capital
stocks erode economic opportunities and increase
social pressure, as already experienced in a number
of lower income countries. Examples include Egypt,
El Salvador, and Pakistan, all facing severe economic
burdens imposed by their biocapacity deficits.
Signs of decline can be seen today through carbon
accumulation in the atmosphere, depleted fisheries,
deforestation, and soaring food costs. This means
that costs of everyday inputs such as food and water
will increase, while the value of economic assets that
depend on cheap resource inputs (such as airplanes
and airports, hotels in distant locations, aluminium
smelters, or artificially heated spas) will decline as they
are over-proportionally more expensive to operate.
Fossil fuel use is now a prominent driver. Today,
the largest component of humanitys Ecological
Footprint55 percentis the carbon Footprint. In
contrast, the carbon component was only 35 percent
of humanitys total Footprint in 1961. For all the worlds
technological gains, development in energy efficiency
has not kept pace with the growth in population
and the increase of demand for energy used in
transportation, electricity, heating and cooling.

1 ha

2 gha

If a hectare of, for example, cropland is

twice as productive as a world average
biologically productive hectare, it is
worth 2 gha.

1 ha

0.5 gha

If a particular hectare of, for example,

grazing land is half as productive as a
world average biologically productive
hectare, it is worth half a gha.

54

Our Ecological Footprint: How much nature it takes to renew what we consume

Figure 10.
TOTAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT FOR LAGUNA LAKE region (GHA)

BUILT UP LAND
GRAZING LAND
FOREST LAND
CARBON
FISHING GROUND
cropland

The Laguna Lake region is home to 14.5 million

people. In 2009, their total Ecological Footprint for
Laguna Lake region was 24,200,000 gha. This is the
area needed to renew everything they consume,
absorb the CO2 they emit, and to provide space
for urban infrastructure. But the local ecosystems
contain far less biocapacity: 813,000 gha. This
means that it currently requires the biocapacity of
30 Laguna Lake regions to meet the demand of its
population. Resource demands from Metro Manila
alone make up more than half 65 percent of
Laguna Lake regions total Ecological Footprint. The
largest component of the Footprint was cropland (35
percent); followed by fishing grounds (24 percent);
carbon (23 percent); forest land (7 percent); grazing
land (6 percent); and built-up land (5 percent).

Figure 11.
laguna lake region's tOTAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT of consumption
by land type

METRO MANILA
REST OF laguna lake REGION

cropland

forest products

CARBON

built up land

grazing land

FISHING GROUND

6%

5%

7%
35%
65%
METRO MANILA

24,200,000

15,730,000
23%

35%

24%

The Ecological Footprint of consumption shows the demand on

ecological services by an individual or population. It includes local
demand and what is imported.

55

Per capita, the average resident of Laguna Lake

region had an Ecological Footprint of nearly 1.7
gha. This is higher than the national average of 1.2
gha per person, but just within the world average
available biocapacity of 1.8 gha. This means that if
everyone on the planet lived like the average person
in Laguna Lake region, there would just about be
sufficient biocapacity globally to support this total
demand (to give wild species a chance to survive, a
good portion of the worlds biocapacity would need
to be left aside for those species). As explained
above, these 1.7 gha per person were met by only
0.05 gha biocapacity per person in the region.

This biocapacity deficit of 1.65 gha per resident

was met through the use of global commons, such
as emitting CO2 from fossil-fuel burning beyond
local sequestration capacity, consuming imported
resources such as food, fiber, forest products and
embodied energy from outside the region, and
overuse of ones own ecosystems.
This widening gap between demand and supply is
particularly significant, given Laguna Lake regions
unique role in the country (particularly that of Metro
Manila). Laguna Lake region makes up more than 60

percent of the Philippines GDP. But the function of

Laguna Lake regions economy is highly dependent
on both the availability of ecological assets outside
its borders and its ability to pay for access to the
resources and services they produce. Financial
assessments may underestimate the importance of
biocapacity because agricultural products continue
to be undervalued by the market. This blinds us from
the reality that lack of resources seriously stifles
economies ability to operate. In other words, Laguna
Lake regions biocapacity deficit poses economic
risks that can have a ripple effect across the nation.
56

The Consumption Land Use Matrix (CLUM) Which part is used for what?
3.00
Figure 12.
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT BY FINAL DEMAND BY REGION (GHA PER CAPITA)

2.50
0.53
2.00

Figure 13.
LAGUNA LAKE REGION CLUM (CONSUMPTION LAND USED MATRIX)

GFCF
GOVERNMENT

0.12
0.05

1.50

1.87

1.02

1.49

1.65

0.00
WORLD

PHILIPPINES

By making ecological limits central to decisionmaking, local governments within the region have the
opportunity to develop strategies and policies that
address the challenging twin trajectories of shrinking
resource supply, and the growing demands on them.
Attributing the overall demand on nature to particular
human activities requires an additional analytical step
beyond basic Ecological Footprint accounting.
Since statistical offices track how households,
government and industry spend their money, we can
use these estimates to translate land-based Ecological
57

LAGUNA LAKE REGION

CROPLAND

0.12
0.05

0.12
0.05

1.00

0.50

(gha person-1)

HH (SUBTOTAL)

0.18

GRAZING
LAND

FOREST
LAND

FISHING
GROUNDS

BUILT-UP
LAND

CARBON

TOTAL

FOOD

0.41

0.05

0.01

0.34

0.02

0.03

0.85

HOUSING

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.10

0.12

TRANSPORTATION

0.05

0.02

0.02

0.03

0.02

0.11

0.25

GOODS

0.08

0.02

0.02

0.01

0.01

0.04

0.18

SERVICES

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.03

0.09

HH (SUBTOTAL)

0.55

0.09

0.08

0.39

0.07

0.31

1.49

GOVERNMENT

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.02

0.05

GFCF

0.02

0.01

0.03

0.00

0.01

0.05

0.12

TOTAL

0.58

0.11

0.11

0.39

0.09

0.38

1.55

METRO MANILA

Footprint results into activity-based Ecological

Footprint results. This is called the Consumption LandUse Matrix, or CLUM. These final demand categories
include: 1) consumables paid for by households (HH);
2) consumables paid for by government (GOV), such
as school supplies in public schools, police equipment,
paper for public administration; and 3) lasting goods
and assets, or gross fixed capital formation (GFCF),
such as construction of buildings, roads, factories and
its equipment.
The direct consumption by households accounts for
90 percent of Laguna Lake regions consumption

Footprint. This indicates that residents daily

decisions significantly impact regional (and,
subsequently, national) Footprint trends.
While the direct consumption by government is only
3 percent of Laguna Lake regions consumption
Footprint, decisions made by the government
have a large impact on how we build cities and
infrastructure, which strongly influences household
consumption patterns.

Ecological Footprint by household consumption is

broken down further into five major domains: food,
housing, transport, and goods and services. The
figure above shows that food Footprint is by far
the largest component of Laguna Lake Regions
household-driven Footprint (57 percent of the total),
followed by its transportation Footprint (17 percent).
The consumption of food by household is primarily
linked to two land types: cropland (48 percent), and
fishing (40 percent).

58

Figure 14.
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT BY CONSUMPTION (GHA PER CAPITA)

0.13

SERVICES
GOODS

0.29

TRANSPORTATION

0.09

HOUSING

0.19

0.09

FOOD

0.18

0.37

0.29
0.25

0.47

0.14

0.06
0.13

0.12

0.16
0.19
0.09

0.14
0.07

0.67

0.62

0.85

WORLD

PHILIPPINES

LAGUNA LAKE REGION

The figure above shows that the food Footprint for

the Philippines is equivalent to the world average of
0.61 gha, and that both the Laguna Lake region and
Metro Manila have higher food Footprints than the
national average and the world average. This is likely
due to the fact that these populations have relatively
higher incomes than the national average. However,

59

0.08

0.93

METRO MANILA

.72

IVA

as resources become scarcer, food supply could

pose a national security issue (as was witnessed in
the 2008 rice crisis throughout Asia). Residents of
Laguna Lake region, and the country as a whole, are
growing more dependent on imported biocapacity
for food, and thus access is directly linked to world
food prices.

60

Ecological Footprint for Producing Things

Figure 15.

RESOURCE INTENSITY

PHILIPPINES

MANILA +
CALABARZON

METRO MANILA

CALABARZON

58.0

65.6

45.7

67.3

(Global Hectares/Million Peso)

I. AGRI, HUNTING, FORESTRY & FISHING

II. INDUSTRY SECTOR

5.6

4.3

5.6

3.5

III. SERVICE SECTOR

1.5

1.3

1.2

1.8

TOTAL

9.8

3.8

2.1

7.2

This table shows how much biocapacity in global hectares is needed to generate 1,000 Philippine pesos. It shows that agriculture requires the
most biocapacity per pesos, which could also indicate that agriculture gets undervalued by markets. We assume that resource intensity for
Metro Manila is the same as the National Capital Region (NCR), and the one for LLDA is the same as one for NCR plus Calabarzon due to data
limitations.

As the Ecological Footprint can track the resource

demand for consumption, it can also be used to
analyze the economy from the production end.
While the consumption Footprint indicates how
much it takes to support a residents consumption,
the production Footprint measures how much
biocapacity is needed as input to produce all the
value added of an economy. It is also possible to
calculate the production Footprint minus its demands
on the global commons (for example, CO2 emissions
to the atmosphere, since the demands placed on
the environment by a country through the emission
of carbon dioxide are mostly dispersed throughout
the globe). This gives us the direct demand of a
country on its own ecosystems. In other words, the
61

production Footprint measures a countrys direct

harvest of its own biocapacity.
Assessing the Footprint from all these perspectives
offers useful and complementary insights. There
are also various methods of calculating each. One
approach that is increasing in use is based on InputOutput analysis. Global Footprint Network performed
a preliminary assessment of the production Footprint
of some areas within the Laguna Lake region. Due
to its early research phase, the results will be made
available in a research paper.
Among the key findings of the production Footprint
for the Laguna Lake region is that resource intensity

in the agricultural sector is the highest per peso,

both in the Philippines as a whole, as well as in the
LLDA region.
One could conclude that the service industry is
the most efficient way to produce value. But this
may be a dangerous interpretation because it may
suggest that agriculture is not important. Another
interpretation is that agriculture, even though it is
fundamental necessity, gets a very small portion
of the value added of an economy. As a result we
underinvest into the capital that is most significant,
and is disappearing the fastest. Natural capital can
exist without human capital, but human capital
(including social capital, intangible assets, built-

up capital) cannot exist without natural capital.

Therefore, low resource prices should not be
interpreted as lack of importance, but rather as a
distortion of value, where agricultural production is
poorly compensated, and food security can become
a serious and potentially surprising risk.
If agricultural production is grossly undervalued,
it can lead easily to its liquidation. This distortion
poses major risks, as, ultimately, natural capital
cannot be substituted and is at the bottom of every
value chain and one of the key factors for maintaining
food security.

62

Next Steps

63

64

Resource Limits in Policy

A climate-resilient country with healthy, safe,
prosperous and self-reliant communities, and thriving
and productive ecosystems: this is the peoples
vision for the Philippines. In keeping its eyes on
the goal, the country endeavors to put its best foot
forward and in doing so has embraced the Ecological
Footprint as a primary means to understand the key
elements that would prove fundamental in pursuing
this ideal in the face of the complex web of crises
that we confront as a nation, and as a planet.
Looking at the larger context within which we situate
ourselves in, the international communitys current
efforts to address climate change indicate that we
may be likely in for a 4 degrees Celsius warmer
world, a catastrophic scenario no less, with profound
impacts on food, water, natural ecosystems, human
security, and spawning irreversible changes. There is
no doubt that climate change would deepen poverty
and widen the chasm between rich and poor, thereby
posing a tremendous challenge to social and human
development. And the headlines that we see in the
news every day are by no means reassuring. Just in
the first half of 2013, CO2 levels in the atmosphere
has breached the dangerous 400ppm threshold.
We likewise confront the sobering fact that every
living system in the world today is in decline,
compounded with resource scarcity, energy deficits,
steep biodiversity decline, and heightened risk to
climate change and disasters.

65

The Climate Change Commission, which led in the

formulation of the national vision in the face of the
climate change challenge and in embarking on this
critical national exercise of ecological accounting,
takes pleasure in seeing the Ecological Footprint
being embraced by institutions at the sub-national
level, in particular by the Laguna Lake Development
Authority and the Metro Manila Development
Authority in their respective jurisdictions. The
importance of the Footprint approach for local
government units cannot be overemphasized as
their decisions can have a major impact on resource
consumption and on building resilience to climate
impacts. Such impacts can have far-reaching
implications not just for the local communities but
for the country as a whole and this is especially true
for the Laguna Lake region, which encompasses
the main economic nucleus of the Philippines that
is characterized by both vast potentials and serious
sustainability problems.
The Commission is acutely cognizant of the need for
all government agencies and instrumentalities, from
national to the grassroots, to work together closely in
order to internalize the issue of resource limits into the
governance culture and in decision-making processes.
In the first phase of this endeavor, the country
produced A Measure for Resilience: 2012 Report
on the Ecological Footprint of the Philippines,
which brought to the fore an abundance of key

issues that needed to be confronted in the context

of the countrys quest for resilience. Providing
the Philippines with a new framework to measure
resilience, the report was endorsed by President
Benigno S. Aquino III and formally adopted by the
Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation and
Mitigation, which works to ensure the integrity of
the environment by promoting sustainable natural
resource utilization and climate change adaptation
and mitigation strategies and measures as part of
the key result areas of the Presidents social contract
with the Filipino people.
Resource accounting is an idea whose time has come
and has immense value at the sub-national level
regions, provinces, cities, and municipalities where
land-use decisions can have a ripple effect on the
economy and society. The Ecological Footprint is not
a tool that is meant to curtail development and growth,
but rather, it is intended to help governments in making
development decisions that promote sustainable
economies and ensure well-being of the people.
The implementation of the Footprint in the Laguna
Lake region in this second phase also marked
the capacity-building stage where participating
government institutions acquired the necessary
know-how regarding the accounting methodology of
the Ecological Footprint. This heralds a new era in the
countrys capacity to take control of its future as from
here on out, we have effectively built the local expertise

to track and manage our resources, and to use the data

and information in our policy-making duties.
With the national vision firmly fixed in our sights, we
aim to bring the success of the Ecological Footprint
approach to a higher level with its Phase 3, which
is intended to marshal the most in-depth Footprint
analysis that we will embark on with Global Footprint
Network. Together, we will map the flow of the
Ecological Footprint between industry sectors and
link this flow to consumer final demand. This analysis
will help direct more targeted outreach about
resource use and waste generation to households
and consumers, while also helping the national
government understand the ecological impacts of
industrial sectors. Guided with the resultant findings,
this next phase will also include a scenario analysis
and a plan for action.
Our work has been cut out for us. The commitment
towards sustainable development is an everlasting
ideal. In other words, the work is really just
beginning. The objective is to continue to incorporate
Footprint accounting and resource limits into public
discourse and policy-making in perpetuity -- for a
truly sustainable, resilient Philippines.

Naderev M. Sao
Commissioner
Climate Change Commission
66

Appendix A.i
Calculating the Ecological Footprint, Consumption, Production and Biocapacity

For each annual Edition of the National Footprint

Accounts, the most current data for the entire time
series is downloaded, forming the basis of all the
updated calculations. Some factors and values
taken from scientific literature are also updated
where possible. New data can cause changes
in results between NFA Editions for the same
years. Furthermore, in the NFA 2011 Edition, an
Intertemporal Yield Factor (IYF) was introduced to
allow better comparability between the results for
each year within an NFA Edition. Further detail is
available in Boruke et al. (2013). By definition, the
IYF changes base years in each NFA Edition, which
causes a change in the way the results appear
between NFA Editions. In some NFA Editions,

67

methodological changes to incorporate the latest

research and available data may also affect the
results, but no significant methodological changes
were made in the NFA 2012 Edition.
Differences in the Ecological Footprint
The National Footprint Accounts 2012 Edition
track human demand for resources and ecological
services in terms of six major land-use types
(cropland, grazing land, forest land, carbon, fishing
grounds, and built-up land). The Ecological Footprint
of each major land-use type is calculated by
summing the contributions of a variety of specific
products. Built-up land reflects the bioproductivity
compromised by infrastructure and hydropower.
Forest land can either provide forest products, or
it can serve for carbon dioxide uptake. In the latter
case, it represents the carbon absorptive capacity
of a world average hectare of forest needed to
absorb anthropogenic CO2 emissions, after having
considered the ocean sequestration capacity (also
called the carbon Footprint). The Ecological Footprint
calculates the combined demand for ecological
resources and services wherever they are located
and presents them as the global average area
needed to support a specific human activity. This
quantity is expressed in units of global hectares,

defined as hectares of bioproductive area with

world average bioproductivity. By expressing all
results in a common unit, biocapacity and Footprints
can be directly compared across land use types
and countries. Demand for resource production
and waste assimilation are translated into global
hectares by dividing the total amount of a resource
consumed by the yield per hectare, or dividing
the waste emitted by the absorptive capacity per
hectare. Yields are calculated based on various
international statistics, primarily those from the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO ResourceSTAT statistical databases). Yields
are mutually exclusive: If two crops are grown at
the same time on the same hectare, one portion
of the hectare is assigned to one crop, and the
remainder to the other. This avoids double counting.
This follows the same logic as measuring the size
of a farm: Each hectare is only counted once,
even though it might provide multiple services.
The Ecological Footprint, in its most basic form, is
calculated by the following equation:

Figure 16.
global footprint trend according to
footprint account editions
NFA 2011
NFA 2012

in number of planets

The National Footprint Accounts track countries

use of ecological services and resources, as well as
the biocapacity available in each country. As with
any resource accounts, they are static, quantitative
descriptions of outcomes, for any given year in the
past for which data exist. The detailed calculation
methodology of the most updated Accounts
the National Footprint Accounts 2012 Editionis
described in Borucke et al. (2013). The National
Footprint Accounts 2012 Edition calculates the
Ecological Footprint and biocapacity for over 200
countries and regions, from 1961 to 2009.

EF = D/Y
where D is the annual demand of a product and Y is
the annual yield of the same product (Monfreda et al.,
2004; Galli et al., 2007). Yield is expressed in global

68

hectares. In practice, global hectares are estimated

with the help of two factors: The yield factors (that
compare national average yield per hectare to world
average yield within the same land category) and
the equivalence factors (which capture the relative
productivity across the various land and sea area
types). Therefore, the formula of the Ecological
Footprint becomes:
EF = (P/YN)*YF*EQF
where P is the amount of a product harvested or
waste emitted (equal to D above), YN is the national
average yield for P, and YF and EQF are the yield
factor and equivalence factor, respectively, for the
country and land use type in question. The yield

69

factor is the ratio of national-to-world-average

yields. It is calculated as the annual availability of
usable products and varies by country and year.
Equivalence factors translate the area supplied or
demanded of a specific land use type (e.g., world
average cropland, grazing land, etc.) into units of
world average biologically productive area (global
hectares) and vary by land-use type and year. Annual
demand for manufactured or derivative products
(e.g., flour or wood pulp), is converted into primary
product equivalents (e.g., wheat or roundwood)
through the use of extraction rates. These quantities
of primary product equivalents are then translated
into an Ecological Footprint. The Ecological
Footprint also embodies the energy required for the
manufacturing process.

70

Appendix A.ii
Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis for the Ecological Footprint

WHY EE-MRIO APPROACH IS NECESSARY

The Ecological Footprint has become an influential
measure of global demand for biological capital.
However, the current National Footprint Accounts
(NFA) provide disaggregation only according to
land-use types, limiting their utility to government
and private sector decision-makers. The information
provided by the NFAs is extended by utilizing
Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input
Output analysis (EE-MRIO) through the Global
Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) published by Purdue
University. The EE-MRIO approach provides
Ecological Footprint results for 57 industrial sectors,
three types of final demand, and a Consumption
Land Used Matrix (CLUM) for 129 world regions, as
well as trade data.
Calculation methodology for EE-MRIO at National
Level:
Monetary input-output tables were first proposed
by Wassily Leontief in the early 20th century. The
use of input-output analysis to support physical
flow accounting gained early acceptance for energy
and pollution analysis in the 1970s. Environmentally
Extended Input-Output (EEIO) models have been

71

utilized for material and energy flow accounting and

land-use accounting to forecast trends and measure
eco-efficiency. Environmentally extended inputoutput analysis for the Ecological Footprint requires
three key calculations: (1) Leontief inverse, (2) direct
Footprint intensity, and (3) total Footprint intensity
Leontief Inverse
The Leontief inverse calculation provides the direct
and indirect requirements of any industry supplied
by other industries to deliver one unit of output for
final demand. For generation of the Leontief inverse,
Global Footprint Network utilizes the Global Trade
Analysis Project (GTAP) 8 database (https://www.
gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/default.asp).
GTAP8 provides coverage of 129 regions (countries).
Since GTAP does not cover all the countries in the
NFA, concordance matrices are used to aggregate/
disaggregate some GTAP regions (e.g. Sub-Saharan
Africa) into the constituent countries in NFA.
Economic structure for 2004 and 2007. If one assumes
the economic structure does not change annually, it
is possible to use the EF-MRIO to calculate results for
any other year covered in the NFA.

Distinction of 57 products / sectors in each country.

Direct Footprint Intensity
To build the EF-MRIO Global Footprint Network
requires an Environmental Satellite Account, which
is the Ecological Footprint of Production (EFp) as
taken directly from the NFA, restructured into the
GTAP 57 sector format. In MRIO lingo, the work
of restructuring the EFp data from the NFA into the
above format is called Initial Allocation (see sample
table below).
The direct Footprint intensity is calculated by dividing
the Ecological Footprint production of each land
type by the total output for final demand, including
imports. This represents the direct required Footprint
per unit of currency spent.

The Results in the EF-MRIO Model:

Ecological Footprint by Final Demand
The Ecological Footprint of consumption is
redistributed into three final demand categories by
multiplying total Footprint intensity by domestic
final demand, which is expressed as household
consumption, government consumption, and gross
fixed capital formation.
Household Consumption (HH): Short-lived
consumption by households (food, housing
maintenance, goods and services paid for and
consumed within a fiscal year); Government
Consumption (GOV): Short-lived consumption by
governments (public services, schools, policing,
defense, etc.); Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF):
Long-lived assets, purchased by households (e.g.
new houses, white goods), firms (e.g. machinery),
and governments (e.g. transport infrastructure).

Total Footprint Intensity

The total Footprint intensity provides the direct and
indirect Footprints of industrial sectors to provide
one unit of production to final demandincluding
the entire supply chain. This total Footprint intensity
is calculated by multiplying the direct Footprint
intensity by the Leontief inverse.

Short-lived consumption by business is not a

final demand category input-output analysis; it is
intermediate demand. To accurately calculate the
total EFc for a business, the first step is to prepare
a final demand vector itemizing that businesss
purchases, then use that final demand vector in a
Leontief demand-pull model to calculate the total

72

environmental inputs required to satisfy that final

demand bundle. The final demand bundle used in the
EF-MRIO is that of final demand, i.e. purchases of
goods for the ultimate use before disposal.

their influence and voice to change their societal

footprint i.e. the portions of final demand over
which they do not have direct control, such as
government buying and government / business
capital expenditure.

Consumption Land Use Matrix (CLUM)

The household component is then redistributed to
household consumption categories using a sectorCOICOP matrix. This matrix was created by linking
data from the Environmental Impacts of
Products (EIPRO) project and Classification of
Individual Consumption According to Purpose
(COICOP). As shown above, a Consumption Land
Use Matrix (CLUM) can be created by combining
the Ecological Footprint of household consumption,
government consumption, and gross fixed capital by
land-use type.
Classification of Individual
Consumption According to Purpose
(COCICOP)

Calculation methodology for Sub-Regional CLUM:

Sub-national CLUMs are developed through scaling
procedures that take household expenditures (HHE)
for the nation and each region and adjust them by
consumer price index (CPI) and energy efficiency
data (the percentage of carbon dioxide emissions
per unit of energy produced).
National CLUM Scaling Procedure Sub-national
CLUM Ecological Footprint by government
consumption and gross fixed capital formation in
each region are allocated the same as the national
average due to data limitations and vague definitions
of some national government spending and
investment allocated to each prefecture.

A CLUM can be used to inform policymaking and

consumer choices. For example, households
can directly influence their Footprint by changing
their consumption pattern. They can also use

73

74

Appendix A.iii
Methods for Calculating Biocapacity of LLDA Region

Biocapacity is defined as the capacity of ecosystems

to produce useful biological materials (to humans)
and to absorb waste materials generated by humans,
using current management schemes and extraction
technologies. Global Footprint Network calculates
biocapacity for every country in the world for every
year from 1961 to 2009 (the latest year for which data
is available); it is calculated as the area assigned
to a particular human use, multiplied by yield and
equivalence factors. The equation for biocapacity is:
BCi = Ai * YFi * EQFi
where A is the area of a country dedicated to
land-type (i),YF is the yield factor (ratio of national
yield to world yield) for land-type (i) and EQF is the
equivalence factor for landtype (i), which relates the
productivity of the six land types track by the Global
Footprint Network to a common unitthe global
hectare. The total biocapacity is the sum of the
biocapacity of all land types.
To calculate the biocapacity of a sub-national
region such as LLDA, our methodology consisted
of making use of land-use maps of the LLDA region
(provided by the LLDA authority itself), and satellite
images of values known as net primary productivity
(NPP). NPP values are a measure of the biological
material produced by photosynthesis, which plants
75

themselves do not use for respiration.

The equation used for biocapacity for sub-regional
LLDA is the national biocapacity modified by an NPP
factor (ratio of NPP sub-national to NPP national),
which scales the national biocapacity to the subnational level.
We were provided with a higher resolution map for
the LLDA region and a lower resolution map for
the Philippines. We compared the lower resolution
Country map (2002) to the area data reported by
FAOSTAT (2009) to determine accuracy with the map.
We determined that the higher resolution land use
map was more accurate than the lower resolution
map for the LLDA region, so this map was used for
the area values. However the lower resolution map
was used to calculate the NPP factor for each land
type in each province since the higher resolution
map coverage did not include the entire Philippines.
Caveats to Calculation
The area for the Low Resolution Land Use map was
not the same as the High Resolution Land Use map.
We used land use area values from the low resolution
map- the only map for with coverage for the entire
Philippines. However, these area values do not
match the values from the FAOSTAT database.

76

Acknowledgements
AusAID

Metro Manila Development Authority

The Australian Agency for International Development

Special thanks to the Australian Government for supporting

the Ecological Footprint collaboration for the Laguna Lake
region, which includes publication of this report, a technical
training to build in-country capacity, and a policy workshop
to ensure resource accounting in policymaking.

Chairman Francis N. Tolentino

Aristidy Correa
Maria Luwalhati C. Dorotan
Reynaldo Estipona
Jo Faulan
Marvelous S. Libril
Emma Quiambao
Joaquin Antonio M. Santos
Alex Umagat

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) is an executive agency within the Foreign Affairs and Trade
portfolio. Final responsibility for the operation and performance of AusAID rests with the Director General who reports directly
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister for International Development on all aspects of aid policy and
operations.

Office of the Presidential Adviser

for Environmental Protection

Global Footprint Network

Global Footprint Network

Pati Poblete
Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D.
Michael Borucke
Katsunori Iha
Haley Smith Kingsland
Elias Lazarus
Dharashree Panda

Phillip Fullon
Jenica Dizon
Melissa Lavente

Laguna Lake Development Authority

J.R. Nereus O. Acosta, Ph.D.
Dolora N. Nepomuceno
Adelina C. Santos-Borja
Jocelyn G. Sta. Ana
Rowena J. Pagdingalan
Maristel C. Espiritu
Charisse V. Lopez
Leonor A. Poserio
Maureen S. Tolentino
Eduardo L. Torres/John Andrew de Guzman
Alvin A. Faraon
Adelio D. Rico
Irish I. Hormachuelos
Maria Carolane P. Gonzales
Marigold M. Del Prado
Beniaflor Ada
Ireneo G. Bongco

Climate Change Commission

Commissioner Lucille Sering
Commissioner Naderev Sao
Desiree Llanos Dee
77

Data Sources (External)

National Statistical Coordination Board
National Statistics Office
National Economic and Development Authority
Department of Energy
Mario Marasigan
Jess Tamang

Photographs
Pictures were contributed by the following LLDA offices/units:

Public Information Unit - Office of the General Manger

Office of the Assistant General Manager
Project Development, Monitoring & Evaluation Division
Jeffrey Delfin/UNWFP

Design
Tink Tank Studio

The fundamental purpose of Australian aid is to help people overcome poverty. This also serves Australias national interests
by promoting stability and prosperity both in our region and beyond. We focus our effort in areas where Australia can make a
difference and where our resources can most effectively and efficiently be deployed.
www.ausaid.gov.au

In 2003, Global Footprint Network, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was established to enable a sustainable future where all
people have the opportunity to live satisfying lives within the means of one planet. That is why our work aims to accelerate
the use of the Ecological Footprint a resource accounting tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use,
and who uses what.
The Ecological Footprint is a data-driven metric that tells us how close we are to the goal of sustainable living. Footprint
accounts work like bank statements, documenting whether we are living within our ecological budget or consuming nature's
resources faster than the planet can renew them.
www.footprintnetwork.org

Laguna Lake Development Authority

The LLDA was organized by virtue of Republic Act No. 4850 as a quasi-government agency with regulatory and proprietary
functions. Through Presidential Decree 813 in 1975, and Executive Order 927 in 1983, its powers and functions were further
strengthened to include environmental protection and jurisdiction over the lake basins surface water.
The Laguna Lake Development Authority envisions a Laguna Lake Region with a balanced ecology, maintained through a
science-based approach in monitoring, management and maintenance of the ecosystem. It aims to make the Laguna Lake
Region a model of environmental governance in Asia and the focal area of sustainable development for the region and the
whole country.
www.llda.gov.ph

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority

The role of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is to assist the 17 political units within Metro Manila in crafting
and implementing an integrated development plan characterized by unity of purpose, innovation, resiliency, sustainability,
adaptability and creativity in meeting the challenges of transport decongestion, climate change, waste management, and
disaster prevention among others, in order to achieve a decent quality of life for Metro Manilians.
www.mmda.gov.ph
78