2. Reasons for land reclamation 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 surface is converted to agriculture and urban systems).

## 2.1 Direct causes

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

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 pro-

duction, 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

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

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

of future reclamation and development.

Landscape Reclamation - Rising From What's Left

re-vegetation of strip-mine spoil areas [8].

activity e.g. roads, buildings, industries and parks.

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