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Making the land work for the people 

Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, as many other big cities of developing countries, is doubling its population every 16 years and its waste every six years. Of this huge amount of waste, only 50% is hauled by the garbage collectors. The rest is either burned or just dumped in vacant lots, even if more than half of it is biodegradable or recyclable. Therefore there is an urgent need to manage this growing mountain of waste more constructively to help promote local recycling schemes, composting, gardening and even employment.

Community at work: drawing up the lines of waste and food

Started in February 2002, the two-year ‘GIS-based Urban Environmental Resources Management and Food Security Project’ addressed these issues. With co-financing from the European Commission’s Asia Urbs Programme of € 495 697, the project, initiated by the German city Schelklingen together with the Belgian city Dinant, helped the local authorities in Cagayan de Oro find effective solutions to turn their garbage problem into an opportunity. By integrating all community data in one Geographical Information System, it produced an effective land and waste management plan, with immediate results:  

• The local community to recycle, to collect recyclable materials and to use compost for their crops;

• 1 000 families in three pilot areas of Cagayan de Oro segregating the household waste;

• The landfill significantly reduced to one third of original amount;

• Garbage pickers founded their own recycling co-operative;

• Three pilot allotment gardens established for 24 local families using compost fertilizers. Fresh vegetable and fruit from these gardens significantly improved the health of the poor Cagayan families.

Partnership with the local community

The success of the project relies on the partnership between the local administration, the researchers, the private sector and the local people involved in the project. With an EC support of almost half a million euro, the Asia Urbs project in Cagayan de Oro builds on the previous Local Environmental Planning and Management Project of 1998. It now also finds concrete applications in other problematic issues of urban management, like poverty alleviation, participation of women and environmental rehabilitation.