Advocating the Urban Nexus of Water, Food and Energy through Laguna Lake: The Case of Sta. Rosa

Abstract

Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Philippines is part of the project Integrated Resource Management in Asian Cities: The Urban Nexus commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (GIZ) in a term from 2013-2015. The Urban Nexus was created to tackle issues on the exhaustion of land, food, water, energy, and sanitation caused by the ever-rising Asian population. This is a pressing issue in the local and international scene but due to its immediate accessibility to people, municipalities have the advantage of solving the problems upfront. Still, due to the departmental management system, typical in Asian countries, municipalities have “struggled to make the most of the opportunity” for the community according to World Bank (Ellis, et. al., 2016). Municipalities in Asia are managed through divisions, Sta. Rosa, as an example, has 27 departments, 15 assistant departments and 10 other departments under the office of the mayor (Municipality of Sta. Rosa, 2021). This type of system solves problems under their department as a single, disconnected element thus blurring the impact and interrelationships or nexus of water, food, and energy. This paper adds to the limited studies that analyse the implementation, progress, and measurements of The Urban Nexus. Drawn from a multiple case study approach, results showed that there was no tangible effect of The Urban Nexus project 6 years after its execution, specifically to those who will benefit the most – the informal settler families along Laguna Lake in Sta. Rosa. And because it takes dedication from all levels of the society to participate and perform their roles to achieve the urban nexus, recommendation of the interconnected responsibilities of schools to municipalities are described.