**5.4 Concluding remarks**

From all the results presented in this study, changes exist on the lagoon bed, which are deemed highly significant. Therefore, it is recommended for any future studies that there is a need for consistent bathymetric data and that it is acquired with a high level of accuracy. This will help in measuring and monitoring the consistent change on the lagoon bed and also facilitate decision-making for better management of the system.

On the basis of the foregoing evidence from the result in this chapter, it can be concluded that the lagoon bed sediment is appreciating gradually over years. If proper caution is not taken to monitor the diversion of effluent, erosion and runoff into the lagoon, in the next few decades, the entire lagoon may have reduced greatly both in plane and depth. With this conclusion, the lagoon can be managed and sustained from immediate future disappearance by employing consistent maintenance dredging on the system. Conversely, the cost of doing such consistent maintenance dredging might be too high for the government and hence a pro-active sustainable management of the lagoon and its ecosystem is the unique solution to the problem.

Although the results of this methodology address a particular lagoon, however, it can be adapted to lagoons and estuaries globally since in the global context, many lagoons and estuaries are faced with increased urbanisation around their ecosystem and the same forcing conditions are responsible for the changes in the systems. This section has been able to provide a synthesis that can be used globally for sustainable monitoring of the lagoon system in any region of the world.

This chapter has been able to use repeated bathymetric measurements to assess the dynamics of the Lagos Lagoon bed. The assessment revealed that a constant change mostly in terms of accretion takes place on the system's bed. However, there are other sections of the lagoon bed that experience erosion. The study achieves a

major part of research objective that aims at assessing the dynamic nature of the lagoon and assesses what effect the changes induce.
