Land Reclamation

As a result of land Reclamation, Singapore’s borders have swollen by 20% over the last 4 decades. And it doesn’t stop there – Singapore has plans to expand its coast by another 14% over the next 50 years. What do you think will happen to the marine life as a result?

Land Reclamation is the use of sand, clay, rocks, etc. to create land where there was once water. It is performed by dumping sand, clay or rocks into reef slopes and reef flats. Sand, which is preferred over clay and rocks, as it settles better, is harvested from hills or dredged from the sea. In the 1960s, Singapore gorged its tiny hills and ridges to reclaim land. Now, as Singapore is virtually flat, she has to buy sand from Indonesia. With an abundant supply of sand, Singapore continued on its major reclamation projects.

There used to be many offshore islands and patch reefs around Singapore. In those days, marine life was abundant, and there were a lot of beautifully colored coral reefs in the oceans. However, when massive land reclamation started in the 1970s, and 1695 hectares (16,950,000 square meters) of land was added as a result, reef flats and reef slopes around these islands were covered up completely, suffocating the marine life that lived there.

The silt also increased the muddiness of the water, decreasing the light penetration. In the 1960s, corals which depend on Sunlight to live could be found living in depths of 10 meters. Now, corals can only be found in depths of 2 meters or less below the sea level. Since then, most coral reefs in Singapore have lost 65% of their live coral cover.

Some people may argue that there is still a lot of marine life in the seas around Singapore, but it still remains as a fact that land reclamation destroys marine life permanently. Who knows how many species were extinct as a result of
these actions.

Now, you may ask “What is the big deal that tiny marine lives are destroyed?” I am telling you that you are wrong. Natural ecosystems have much undiscovered potential in the form of species that may have medicinal or scientific applications.
We are destroying our future with our current greed for economic development. For the sake of our future generations, land reclamation must be controlled. Nations must unite to combat uncontrolled exploitation of land and Oceans for economic gains.

References:
-The Straits Times Interactive, July 9 2003, Singapore reclamation works 'hurt Johor fishing'
-FEATURE - Singapore Finds it Hard to Expand Without Sand
-http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg/
-http://coralreef.nus.edu.sg/gallery/main.htm