Module 10: Health and Wellness as Ecosystem Services

Topic IV. Ecosystem Services 3: Aesthetic and Cultural Services and its Impact on Physical and

Mental Health

1. Given a green building/environment, what interactions of living systems are evident? What

are the biological interactions being simulated in the green design?

The first-ever government green building in the Philippines is the Laguna Lake

Development Authority which earned a LEED certificate and a possible three-star rating

from BERDE.

The stilted building is connected by bridges with ground-level parking space to lessen its

ecological footprint and avoid damaging the existing biodiversity. The building maximizes

the natural daylight through shallow widths and light shelves, also reducing the need for

electric lighting. Air conditioning cools only 69 percent of the building, although all rooms

have the option for natural ventilation. The building’s design also includes a rainwater

catchment system. The site presents a wetland that represent the ecological process

happening in Laguna Lake for educational and viewing purposes. The engineering of this

wetland allows for on-site natural treatment of storm water and cooling of hot breezes.

(Lamudi, 2018)

Lamudi.com, 2018. 12 Highly Sustainable Office Buildings in the Philippines. Retrieved from
https://www.lamudi.com.ph/journal/12-sustainable-offices-philippines/
2. Do any one of the following: 1) create music out of sounds you hear from nature; 2) create

artwork (digital, performing or visual) from patterns you see in nature; 3) go to a field and

observe the various living things (except humans) and the ecosystem you find them.

Describe how you felt.

Topic III: Ecosystem Services 2: Regulating Services that Impacts on Health

1. Analyze the data for your regions given in Tables 1, 2 in the Appendix provided (Reported

cases of Dengue, Leptospirosis and Malaria - DOH). Identify trends for the diseases

provided.

The data provided clearly depicts that the observed maximum temperature anomalies in the

Philippines over the 60-year period and has resulted to the rise of the maximum temperature by

0.36oC.

The climate change in the Philippines became the one main factor for the emergence and

reemergence of certain diseases such as Dengue, Malaria, and Leptospirosis.

2. What hypothesis can you formulate out of the data presented with regards to the incidence of

the disease and the trends in precipitation and temperature data in your regions? (Figs 4-5

(this text)

3. How can you test the hypothesis? What factors need to be studied further to test the

hypothesis?