1. Introduction

Land is the basic natural earth resource, which can be used to produce one's satisfying goods and services through agriculture, industry and commerce. Land in the Niger Delta area is in large demand because of traditional and cultural beliefs attached to the possession of land [1]. Land is regarded in this area as the best form of asset investment because of the prestige attached to its ownership. The cost of land appreciates and has no depreciative value. But a land or coastal area that has been plundered and polluted may loss its economic value [2]. The aim of acquiring land varies, but is mainly for possession and or production of goods and services to satisfy socio-economic and socio-cultural needs. The following are natural resources found in land in Nigeria: columbite, dolomite, gold,

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*Landscape Reclamation - Rising From What's Left*

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tin, iron ore, limestone, silver, uranium and crude oil. The crude oil resource is mainly present in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which is the centripetal force on which the nation's economy revolves [3]. Land is highly priced and many have died for its sake through fratricidal wars and communal clashes because of its scarcity. This situation had precipitated the uncontrolled reclamation of coastal lands [4]. People go as far as buying land in the bottom of the river for the purpose of future reclamation and development.

land at the detriment of the mangrove forest and other coastal species. Cultural activity such as fish farming results in the reclamation of coastal areas and the

The Impact of Landscape Reclamation on Mangrove Forest and Coastal Areas in the Niger Delta…

The Niger Delta is found in the southern part of Nigeria and borders the Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1). Mangrove vegetation is the dominant species found at the interface between the land and the sea. Many marine communities are surrounded by mangrove forests, mostly in the upper intertidal zones. Population increase has led to the migration of people towards the coastal locations. The causes of land reclamation in the Niger Delta are grouped into two: (1) direct and (2) indirect causes. The direct causes include: (i) land expansion, (ii) construction activities, (iii) land acquisition and (iv) succession (land-forming activities of mangroves). The indirect causes include: (i) sand mining, (ii) exploratory activities, (iii) stream expansion/ canalization, (iv) disturbance limitation and (v) agriculture (40–50% of land sur-

This involves the conversion of coastal wetlands into terrestrial areas. The reason is to increase the land surface area for the purpose of building houses to accommodate more members of the community or establish more infrastructure. This occur

Map of Niger Delta Nigeria (circled) bordering the Atlantic Ocean has the biggest mangrove forests in Africa.

in small communities around the Niger Delta area that originally had small populations at its founding. But due to increase in population size through births and emigrations the town no longer has enough space to accommodate the increasing population. This situation thus necessitated the reclamation of coastal areas to create more space for human habitation. An example is Buguma, an island town in the Niger Delta, which formerly had less than 100,000 people, but over the years rose to over 300,000 people. This situation made the local authority to cut down

balkanization of river tributaries.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82053

2.1 Direct causes

Figure 1.

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2.1.1 Land expansion

2. Reasons for land reclamation in the Niger Delta

face is converted to agriculture and urban systems).

Land policy in Nigeria is influenced by government and culture. This is encapsulated in the Land Use Act promulgated in 1978, which states that all lands in Nigeria belong to the Federal Government, this include but not limited to underwater land that is 200 nautical miles from the shore. The Governors of each states of the federation hold the land in trust for the Federal Government, and are entitled to be the sole signatory of all certificate of occupancy (C of O) before a piece of land is legally owned by an individual or group of individuals. Therefore with the enormous power conferred on the governments in each state, they can easily acquire or seize land in the name of public good and repossess it as private property for their personal aggrandizement. Before coastal lands are to be acquired proper environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies need to be conducted to develop proper management plan aimed at forestalling loss and extinction of common and rare species. But in most cases no proper EIA or landscape assessment is carried out [5]. It is the responsibility of the Government to protect the land against illegal landscape reclamations. However, in many communities coastal lands are protected traditionally if they have cultural significance to the people [1]. Despite the negative consequences of coastal land reclamation to aquatic species, it can add some economic value if used for non-intrusive agricultural activities. Nevertheless, land utilization is influenced by nature and characteristics of soil, soil moisture and temperature, topography and land location, flora, fauna and climate. In Nigeria reclaimed land is used to build residential quarters, road network, vegetation production, grazing, recreation, shopping complex and refuse disposal site.

Land reclamation is also known as land fill, it is the process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds or lake beds. It is the returning of lands to an improved state. It is also referred to as the process of improving lands to make them suitable for more intensive use. Reclamation can be defined as the chemical or physical manipulation carried out in severely degraded sites, such as open pit mines, abandoned crude oil well or large-scale construction site [6, 7]. Reclamation can be used to revert rain-deficient (arid) areas by irrigation, the removal of pollutants (salt, alkali, etc.) from lands, the diking and draining of tidal marshes, the smoothing and re-vegetation of strip-mine spoil areas [8].

Historically, reclamation meant irrigation projects that brought wetlands and deserts (considered useless wastelands) into agricultural production. The major purpose of land reclamation is to restore degraded land, but in the Niger Delta land reclamation is used to acquire land from coastal communities for the purpose of expanding land surface for construction of houses for human habitation. Land reclamation in the Niger Delta passes through five phases, which in all ramifications affect the environment. These phases include: (i) deforestation of mangrove forest (ii) consolidation of swamp with bulldozers, (iii) pumping of white sand from the sea bottom unto shore, (iv) sand filling of reclaimed land, and (v) construction activity e.g. roads, buildings, industries and parks.

Land can either be physical or economic. Physical land covers all the earth including land surface, sub-surface, under water and super surface (atmosphere). Economic land on the other hand, is part of physical land that can be used to produce economic commodities for man's satisfaction [2]. For instance, sand filling of a town named Buguma in the Niger Delta, Nigeria increased economic

The Impact of Landscape Reclamation on Mangrove Forest and Coastal Areas in the Niger Delta… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82053

land at the detriment of the mangrove forest and other coastal species. Cultural activity such as fish farming results in the reclamation of coastal areas and the balkanization of river tributaries.
