Land Supply

Land is an important resource as it enables us to meet our basic needs for food and shelter, for example, we need land to grow crops, build houses and roads and setting up industries.

However land is a scarce resource now. Hence, we have a limited amount of land we can use to carry those activities mentioned above. This is referred to as: Land Constraint. Countries facing this problem would have to find ways to increase their supply of land and make use of the land they have wisely to meet the needs of the people.

The two reasons for land constraint are Rising demand for land and Limited supply of land.

Rising demand for land:

There are many factors that result in the rise in demand for land. Such as:

-Population Growth
As the population increases, more land is required for human activities. However, all areas have a carrying capacity, which is the maximum number of people that an area can support. without affecting its supply of resources in the future. Available resources would have to be shared among more people when the number of people increases and that will add more pressure to the land.

-Increasing demand for housing
More land will be required when the population increases.

-Increasning demand for arable land
To provide enough food for the increasing populations, countries have to find more arable land, as it is suitable for growing crops.

-Growth of industries
The need to provide jobs for a population growth is important and one way to do so is to develope more businesses and manufacturing factories. Hence more land is needed.

-Development of transport systems
As a country grow and expand, more roads and railways have to be built. This is to provide a good transport network for the movement of goods and raw materials, as well as to allow workers to travel between their homes and workplaces. (In some cities, at least 20% of land is set aside for roads, railways and carparks.

All these factors are a result of the growth in population.

Limited supply of land:

Only 30% of the Earth's surface is made up of land, and not all of it are readily available for use. For instance, areas like swamps, marshes and low-lying coastal areas are constantly water filled or flooded with water, whereas deserts are too dry. Futhermore, land can be easily damaged through mining or poor farming practices. Those types of land are of little use to us if they are left in their original state.

However, even where land is suitable for human use, not all of it is available to us as it might be reserved for certain uses, like water catchment areas. These are usuallly areas of forests that collect and channel rainwater into reservoirs. Some land is also set aside for military purposes- such as training areas for soldier, like in Singapore.

This leaves us with a limited amount of land for other purposes such as industry and housing.

Responses to Rising demand for land

As there is an increased competition for the limited amount of land, people will have ti make a decision on hoe they are going to use a land.
The cost of not being able to use the same piece of land for the next best use is known as the opportunity cost.

There are three responses to the rise in demand for land:

-Increasing the price of the land
Prices of goods and services are based on their demand and supply. This is known as the price mechanism.

-Increasing the supply of land
There are three ways to increase our land supply.

1) Land clearance
Empty plots of land are created for various land uses. This may be carried out by demolishing old buildins or deforestation.

Though land clearance allows us to have more land to be developed, it can also lead to negative consequences for the entire food chain.

2)Land reclaimation
There are three ways reclaim land- Landfill, Empoldering and reclaiming derelict land.

>Landfill
This method is used to create dry land from swampy areas, marshes and shallow parts of the sea.

Stage 1- Cloums of sand known as piles are forced into the soft clay of the seabed to make it stable.
Stage 2- A sand wall is built around the area to be reclaimed to keep sea water out. Sand is loaded into the sea just outside the sand wall and stored there until it is needed.
Stage 3- The sand that was previously loaded into the sae is sucked up and pumped into the enclosed area.
Stage 4: The sand is compressed and a granite wall is built on the side facing the sea to prevent the area from being eroded by waves.
Stage 5: Trees and other vegetation are grown on the reclaimed land to prevent soil erosion and the land is left to rest. The number of years the land needs to rest depends on how this land will be used.

>Empoldering
This method involves the use of polders and is also a way to control floods. A polder is a piece of land in a low-lying area that had been reclaimed from a body of water by building dikes/dykes and drainage canals.

Stage 1- A dike is constructed around the area to be reclaimed to keep water from coming in
Stage 2- The area is drained using pumps and drainage canals.
Stage 3- Reeds, a type of plant, are sown by aircraft to help the soil form.
Stage 4- After 3 years, the reeds are burnt and the ash is used as fertilisers for the soil.
Stage 5- After a period of up to 15 years, the polder is ready for growing crops, constructing roads and building houses.

>Reclaiming derelict land
Derelict land refers to land that is badly damaged and cannot be used effectively. It mostly happens because of Improper farming practices and Mining activities.

To reclaim land made derelict by farming, fertilisers can be added. However, if it is due to mining activities, since the damage is greater, more steps need to be done to reclaim the land. Waste heaps need to be levelled out and mining pools need to be filled. Only then can chemicals be used to treat the contaminated soil. New vegetation can also be planted to prevent soil erosion.

Effectiveness of land reclaimation:
Countries are able to increase their land supply successfully. However a huge sum of money is needed and it might also impact our environment negatively as it destroys the habitat of certain animals. Futhermore, land reclaimation cannot be used to reclaim a huge amount of land if the neighbouring countries are near by.

Maximising use of existing land:

Maximising urban landuse

-Mixed landuse
This is usually the result of landuse planning. Landuse planning is the process by which different areas on a piece of land are assigned for different uses. This way, people can enjoy the conveniece of having their homes, jobs and a wide range of services within an area.

-High density building
This refers to taller buldings. For instance, the Empire State Building. This enables more people to work or be housed on a small piece of land. This frees up land for other landuses such as fpr conservation as nature reserves or use as military training areas. High denisty buildings also help to reduce the rate at which the country's remaining green spaces are developed.

Maximising agriculture landuse

-Irrigation
Irrigation is the watering of crops through artificial means. This allows farmer to grow crops in areas that experience water shortage and to ensure that their crops receive just the right amount of water. Therefore, farmers can make use land that was previously unsuitable for farming, grow a larger amount and variety of crops as well as reducing the need for human labour, though some forms of irrigation can be very expensive to construct.

-Terracing
Terracing involves creating flat strips of land by cutting a series of steps into hill slopes. This method is commonly practiced in Philippines , Indonesia, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Polynesia.

This way, farmers are able to save money as terracing is an inexpensive method of incresing arable land. The bunds that are used in terracing also prevents the soil from being washed away and terracing makes farming more efficient. However, alot of effort is needed to maintain the terraces.

-Soil-less farming
This method is the growing of crops without soil, like hydroponics (the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid rather than in soil) and aeroponics (a little similar to hydroponics)

3) Conserving land

Conserving land refers to the careful use of land resources to ensure that damage is kept to the minimium. One way of conserving land is to set aside land as nature reserves, where land is carefully managed to protect wildlife , plants and other natural features and to provide special opportunities for sturdy or research.

Reflection:

After reading through the textbook on the chapter of Land Supply, I realised that increasing our land supply has many advantages but just as many disadvantages. I think that out of all the things I read, the most interesting thing I read about is land reclaimation. I found out that many other countries also used such a method to expand their land. Some examples are Helsinki, Manhattan, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Jersey City and many others. However, I do know that if we continue to do so, the sea level would rise and cause problems to those low coastal countries.

~Nicole Mui~