Land reclamation is to create land from the coastal shorelines by filling the water bodies such as the ocean, rivers and lakes. Huge amounts of either rocks, cement, sand, clay or dirt or a mixture of those materials are used.
As world populations increases, there is higher pressure on the need for land space to build housing, industrial development, recreation and more. Hence, land reclamation has been a popular practice across many countries and in Southeast Asia, countries like Singapore and Philippines, are not spared. This came with a cost on the marine ecosystem and in this case, the giant clams.
There are two ways in which land reclamation can affect giant clams: