Chapter 7:Responses to rising demand for land (Increasing supply of land and Conservation)

Hi guys,

Here is a re-cap on the last bit of Chapter 7: Responses to rising demand for land

Besides, increasing the price, which I have touched about on the concept of Price mechanism, below are the two other ways to meet the rising demand for land.

Increasing the supply of land:

1) Land Clearance: Clearing forests and demolishing buildings

2) Land Reclamation: Landfill method, Empoldering, reclaiming derelict land

3)Maximising existing landuse: Maxmising urban landuse (mixing urban landuse and high density building)

Mixing urban landuse (examples: Sengkang and Jurong)

High density building

Conservation of land

1) Nature parks, wetlands or in general other green spaces.

Chaper 7: Effectiveness of Land Reclamation

Hi guys,

Countries that are small like Singapore or where it is mainly made up of lowlands, below the sea level like the Netherlands, land reclamation is a popular solution to the limited land supply the country has. However, land reclamation is not all rosy and good, there are costs that the country have to bear when they embark on land reclamation and limitations to land reclamation itself.

They are:

1) Limitations on the current technology

2)Cost of reclaiming deeper waters

3)Availability of sand for reclamation

4)National territory boundaries (Law of the Sea)

5)Negative impacts on the environment:destruction of natural habitats and sedimentation

Sedimentation is a form of water pollution and I mentioned in class it affects especially the corals found in the sea, I questioned in class if there were corals found in Singapore and many of you said yes. Unlike the beautiful corals of myriad colours of other countries such as Malaysia, the Maldives or Australia, Singapore's corals are usually dull and brownish in colour. This is mainly due to the high sedimentation in Singapore waters that restrict certain growth of aquatic plants that produce the sugars which gives off the pretty colours that you see.

Below are the two videos that I showed about sedimentation and the corals found at Pulau Hantu. enjoy!

Effect of Sedimentation

Pulau Hantu

Below is a map of the areas where you can find corals in Singapore and the type of corals you can find.

Below is another video about the marine life and corals of Singapore, with better colours..enjoy!

Chaper 7: Land Reclamation ( 3 methods)

In class, I have gone through with you that land reclamation is the creation of dry land from an area covered by water. Land reclamation can also refer to the process of recovering land that is damaged and abandoned and making it usable again.

There are three major methods that for land reclamation:

1)Landfill: create land by draining waterlogged areas such as swamps and marshes and filling them with material like sand to form dry land.

2) Empoldering: method of creating land from the sea through the use of polders.

3) Reclaiming derelict land:

-->Poor farming practices:

1) Through usage of fertilizers.

2) Letting the land lie fallow.

-->Mining activities:

1)Spoil banks have to be levelled

2)Mining pools filled.

3)Chemicals can be introduced to treat acidic soil

4)Vegetation planted to prevent soil erosion.