Geo-political issues

SETTLEMENTS INTERACTIONS

There is no settlement that is self  sufficient . Every settlement depends on others for the provision of goods and services, necessary for the survival of its inhabitants

The way one settlement depends on the other settlement expresses the interaction between the settlements. Settlements interacts with each other on the following grounds:

• Religious purposes
• Employment purposes
• Commercial purposes
• Administrative purposes
• Educative purposes
• Cultural purposes

Interaction between one settlement and other settlements may take any of the following patterns:

• Rural – urban
• Urban – rural
• Urban – urban
• Rural – rural

URBAN – RURAL INTERACTION: This form of interaction occurs:

• When people move from the urban areas to rural areas in search of economic opportunities provided in the cities
• When ideas from the urban centres are diffused to the rural areas
• When skilled manpower in the urban areas is transferred to the rural areas. Trained teachers, nurses and doctors are posted to serve in the rural areas.

URBAN – URBAN INTERACTION: This is the interaction between one urban centre to another. This interaction could be in the form of:

• Movement of goods and services from one urban area to another
• Transfer of skilled labour from one urban centre to another
• Movement of people from one urban area to another
• Diffusion of information, ideas and innovations from one urban area to another

RURAL – RURAL INTERACTION: This entails the interaction between one rural area to another rural area. Such interaction is facilitated by:

• Differences in agricultural products which encourage the movement of agricultural products from one rural area to another
• Movement of people from areas of poor soil fertility and inadequate farmland to rural areas with fertile soils and abundant farmlands, etc.
• Movement of unskilled labour from one rural area to another.

TOPIC: LAND RECLAMATION

Meaning

Land reclamation is define as the process of modifying wetlands or waterways, converting them into usable land for purpose of development or the process in which damaged land is restored to its natural state. In both cases, the term is used to refer to some sort of process which designed to fundamentally alter the characteristics of a piece of land to achieve a desired goal.

Factors of Land Reclamation

The reclamation of land in any given area is necessitated by some factors including:

1. The growth of settlements and population which put pressure on the existing land, may instigate and reclamation

2.      Land reclamation may be instigated by need to construct roads or airports and seaports in a particular area

• It may also be instigated by the desire to have enough farmlands

1. The desire to convert bad lands to a productive and functional use

Areas Prone to Land Reclamation

The areas prone to land reclamation include:

1. Swampy and marshy areas
2. Areas exposed to intense soil erosion

• Areas exposed to gully erosion

1. Areas exposed to intense mineral extraction like quarrying e.g Jos Plateau
2. Areas exposed to desert encroachment
3. Areas exposed to deforestation

• Areas with rugged relief (mountains)

Method of Reclamation

The method of reclamation include:

1. Sand Filling: This involves the filling of wetlands (swamps) and waterways with sand or garbage to make more land available for human use. It may be for settlement or agricultural purpose. Land reclamation is very pronounced in Lagos State, Nigeria

2. Construction of Drainages: This involves the construction of drainage which channels water flow. Sometimes, through the construction of drainages, the courses of streams are diverted to give room for more land for development

3. Construction of Barriers: Sometimes, barriers are constructed to stop or check expanding coastal erosion or desert encroachment

4. Afforestation: Afforestation programme is adapted to serve many purposes. It may be to control erosion or desert encroachment. It may be to regain lost forest or vegetation

5. Control of Erosion Head: Bad lands, especially badly eroded areas, have been reclaimed through erosion control programmes. The construction of channels and control of erosion heads through tree planting or cover cropping or development control, has helped in regaining some lost land.

6. Levelling of Hilly Areas: Hilly areas with areas with rugged relief have been leveled through excavation to give room, for more land for settlement and road construction

Important of Land Reclamation

1. It is used in repairing damaged environment. For instance, a beach that is severely eroded, may be restored through land reclamation. This method of restoring a damaged beach is known as beach nourishment. Land reclamation is designed to preserve the existing natural environment.

2. It used for checking desertification in arid regions by turning arid lands into farmlands.

3. Land reclamation is used to keep human settlements or communities intact in regions where the desert is expanding, or where other natural disasters, such as, soil erosion or landslides, are very pronounced.

4. Environmentalists utilize various forms of land reclamation to repair land which has been subjected to some form of environmental damage such as land pollution. For instance, a heavily polluted land may be put on a land reclamation plan which is designed to remove the pollutants and promote the re-establishment of native plants and animals species. Equally, damaged wetlands can be filled to make the land useable. It can also be reclaimed through a slow environmental remediation process.

5. It increases the value of wasted land that would have been of less value thus increasing the size of land available to man for agriculture and settlement.

Effects of Land Reclamation

1. It causes some reclaimed land to be highly unstable and prone to developing sinkholes

2. It causes drastic reduction in the volume of water from streams or even cause streams to dry up

3. Land reclamation exposes some areas to flooding. This happens when the reclaimed land tends to block the natural waterways and, therefore, exposes them to flooding

5. It may disrupt the ecological balance of a region, leading to the migration or death of some animals and plants indigenous to the regionLandfilled materials including garbage may accelerate land and water pollution in the affected region

6. Reclaimed lands are expensive because of their location close to the water front, coastline on Lagoon which are appealing to many settler

Exercises

1. State three reasons for land reclamation
2. Which areas are like liable to land reclamation

Explain three methods used in land reclamation