EFFECTS OF LAND RECLAMATION ON THE MANGROVE SWAMPS OF CALABAR SOUTH L.G.A NIGERIA

The study aimed at analyzing the effects of land reclamation on the mangrove swamps of Calabar South Local Government Area. Land reclamation is the process of creating new land by filling bodies of water or other low-lying areas. This practice has been utilized throughout history for various reasons, including urban expansion, agricultural development, and environmental conservation in recent years, land reclamation has gained attention for its potential to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels and to provide sustainable land for human habitation. Hence, the most common methods of land reclamation is the filling of coastal areas with dredged materials, such as sand, silt, or gravel. This process can create new land for commercial, industrial, or residential development, as well as for ecological restoration. In some cases, land reclamation is used to protect coastal communities from flooding and erosion by increasing the height of the shoreline. Calabar South Local Government Area is located in a coastal area with the presence of swamps, streams, rivers, and heavy rainfall. The presence of these water bodies has led to land reclamations as development such as housing, roads construction, agricultural practices and so on has extended beyond the dry land area of Mount Zion, Goldie, Ekpo Abasi, Mbukpa to undeveloped swampy areas in Anantigha, New Airport, UNICROSS Staff Quarters to mentioned but the few which has been subjected to land filling. Hence, this study seeks to examine the effect of land reclamation in the mangrove swamps of Calabar South Local Government Area. To carry out the study literature were done according to the research objectives. This is to consider the opinion of other scholars. The questionnaire was the major instrument of data collection. Data collected was analyzed using cross tabulation, simple percentage, and bar chart etc. The result of the analysis revealed that the calculated R-value of .480 is greater than the tabulated value significant at .05 level of significance with 327 degree of freedom. With this result, the null hypothesis which stated that there is no significant relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of residents who reclaimed land for development purposes in Calabar South Local Government Area was rejected. This result implied that, the socio-demographic characteristics of residents who reclaimed land for development purposes in Calabar South Local Government Area has a significant positive relationship with development purpose taking place in the study area. This is because all sociodemographic groups such as educated persons, married persons, older people, youths etc. are involved in land reclamation in the mangrove swamp in the study area. It was thus recommended that land reclamation have an effect in Calabar South Local Government Area. This is because the study area has experienced mangrove swamp encroachment which has affected the study area in various ways. One of the effects here include; loss of plant, loss of animals, loss of agricultural land, loss of water bodies such as streams, and lakes and so on. It was affirmed that filling of swampy land, dredging of swampy land that causes mangrove swamp encroachment, and building in swampy land are the major land reclamation process that takes place in the study area