Land reclamation
Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. One involves a change from an area's natural state, the other restoring an area to a more natural state.
Land reclamation is the creation of new land where there was once water. Notable examples include parts of
Washington, D.C. (which is partially built on land that was once
swamp); the
Cape Town foreshore;
Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts; and the
polders of the
Netherlands. The southern
Chinese cities of
Hong Kong and
Macau and the
city-state of
Singapore are also famous for their efforts on land reclamation.
Monaco and the British territory of
Gibraltar are also expanding due to land reclamation. The city of
Rio de Janeiro was largely built on reclaimed land.
Dubai has already done this with their huge "Palms" and "The World" projects off of their coast. The hotel
Burj Al Arab is also on an artificial island off Dubai's coast.
Artificial islands are an example of land reclamation. Creating an artificial island is an expensive and risky undertaking. It is often considered in places that are densely populated and flat land is scarce.
Kansai International Airport (in
Osaka) and
Hong Kong International Airport are examples where this process was deemed necessary. The
Palm Islands and
The World off
Dubai in the
United Arab Emirates are other examples of artificial islands.
A related practice is the
draining of swampy or seasonally submerged
wetlands to convert them to
farmland. While this does not create new land exactly, it allows productive use of land that would otherwise be restricted to
wildlife habitat. It is also an important method of
mosquito control.
In some parts of the world, new reclamation projects are restricted or no longer allowed, due to
environmental protection laws. For example, draining wetlands for ploughing is a form of
habitat destruction.
Land reclamation is the creation of
agricultural or inhabitable land, generally through
irrigation.
Repairing damaged land
Land reclamation (also called
land rehabilitation) is also the process of cleaning up a site that has sustained
environmental degradation, such as
strip mining. This can be done to allow for some form of human use (such as a
housing development) or to restore that area back to its natural state as a wildlife habitat home.
*
Land rehabilitation*
United States Bureau of Reclamation
