Abstract:
Laguna de Bay, the Philippines’ largest freshwater lake, is undergoing socio-ecological
transformations driven by metabolic flows from Metro Manila, the country’s capital region. This positions
the lake as an urbanizing frontier and a crucial resource to the capital’s city-making. Among those
affected are fisherfolk who depend on the lake for their livelihood and possess local ecological knowledge
(LEK) that sustain the lake environment. However, there is limited understanding of how frontier-making
reshapes such knowledge systems. Given these conflicts and potentialities, this study examines the impact
of unsustainable resource extraction driven by Laguna de Bay’s role as an urban frontier on the LEK of a
fisherfolk community on Talim Island, Cardona, Rizal. Employing qualitative action research, it utilizes
participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques, such as resource mapping, seasonal calendaring, and trend
analysis. Through these, it collaboratively weaves grassroots narratives of LEK, encompassing knowledge
of aquatic ecosystems, traditional fishing practices, and environmental awareness. These accounts reveal
massive capitalist extraction occurring in the lake: in the form of fish (through large-scale aquaculture),
water (extracted by Maynilad and Manila Water), energy (via floating solar projects), and development
infrastructure (Laguna Lakeshore Road Network). Such urban provisioning creates metabolic rifts that
disrupt the lake’s socio-ecological system and reconfigure Talim Island fisherfolk’s LEK.
Notwithstanding, fisherfolk actively leverage their knowledge systems as a tool for adaptation and
resistance. As such, the study advocates recognizing LEK’s intrinsic value to strengthen pro-fisherfolk
approaches in Laguna de Bay’s conservation, management, and rehabilitation, while promoting equitable
resource governance and advancing ecological justice.
