Land Reclamation

It is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds.

Empoldering:

• It is the process of draining waterlogged areas for agriculture or other purposes by building dykes [embankments]
• Land Created: polder

Draining Swamps:

• Provide more land for agriculture

Restoring Derelict land

• Add fertilisers to restore lost nutrients
• Remove waste, treat contaminated soil with chemicals, add water to become lake for recreation [for the land that was damaged due to mining]

Advantages:

• Will definately increase the land area for a certain country
• With more land, more buildings and infrastructure can be built, and also for other reasons.

Disadvantages:

• Not a long-term solution to the problem of land shortage as there is a limit to the amount of land that can be reclaimed.
• Damaging to corals and marine life. Example, the waters might also be polluted from the soil used to reclaim land, causing the fishes to die and blocking out sunlight, depriving the underwater plants of growth.
• Marine habitats are also destroyed, as mentioned earlier; therefore, the marine creatures would be forced to move to another new habitat. Some might not be able to adapt, and thus die out.

Singapore Context

In Singapore, 20% of the original size or 135km square. As of 2003, plans for 99km more are to go ahead, despite the fact that disputes persist with Malaysia over Singapore's extensive land reclamation works.


Also, land reclamation is intense, and reclaimed land is everywhere. It is used to build Marina Bay, which is the location of the Integrated Resorts, financial centres and the Singapore Flyer.

The world-famous Changi Airport is also built on reclaimed land. One of the seaports is also located on reclaimed land. The entire East Coast Park is also situated on Singapore's largest scale reclaimed land. Reclaimed land is also present on neighbouring islands for housing, industry and many other purposes.