Seven Lakes Assessment and Monitoring Program: Strategies Towards Sustainable Lake Ecosystems (7 LAMPS)

The vast ecosystem services and livelihood opportunities offered by the Seven Lakes of San Pablo City, Laguna have promoted the expansion of agricultural, aquacultural, residential, and ecotourism areas in the lakes’ vicinities over the years. Realizing the effects of the direct and indirect pressures caused by the increase in human activities in and around the lakes, the assessment and monitoring efforts in the seven lakes need to be strengthened through identification of various factors contributing to the changes and decline in the lakes’ status. Thus, the 7 LAMPS program aims to provide a comprehensive and holistic assessment of the seven lakes geared towards resource restoration and develop strategies for sustainable lake management through its four component projects that focus on addressing the gaps in the assessment and monitoring efforts in the seven lakes such as: (1) the diversity and dynamics of native and non-native macrobenthos community, (2) evaluation of endocrine disruption in fish reared in the lakes, (3) detection and characterization of emerging waterborne parasites as part of water quality assessment and contamination risk factors analysis, and (4) estimation and generation of carrying capacity models for aquaculture and ecotourism. This multi-agency research program has forged partnership with the San Pablo City and Laguna Provincial Government, Laguna Lake Development Authority, and the Region IV-A Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Tourism (DOT). The 7 LAMPS intends to benefit the local community, the fishermen, and other local cooperatives of the seven lakes, our partner agencies, and the academe & research community by providing relevant information that may serve as basis for policy recommendations for resource restoration and sustainable lake management.