Coastal Development

With the growth and development of coastal cities, it creates a number of threats to coral reefs in the vicinity. Between 2000 and 2005, compared to the global average numbers, the population within 1-km of the coast increased 30% faster. That increase has got to result in more infrastructures and facilities to support the population. The rise in infrastructure, agriculture and industry meant that the reefs can suffer via direct physical damage or indirect sources of pollution like sewage. For more of these sources of pollution, do click this link Pollution.

With the number of people living along coastline increasing, what about the living space?

Land Reclamation in Singapore

When space along the coastline becomes limited, land may be reclaimed from the sea to house construction projects and coral reefs are potential targets to be sacrificed. Where the land development changes natural water flow, it can lead to sediments being introduced into the coastal waters, with effects felt way beyond the construction sites.

A little focus on Southeast Asia:

There is something like the triple problem in Southeast Asia that drive the demand for new infrastructure construction along coastlines: growing population, expanding tourism industries, emerging tourism markets.  What’ made the development projects worse is that often, land reclamation in this region have no regard for environmental impacts. As an example, Singapore, the little red dot on the map, has lost an estimated 60% of its coral reefs through land reclamation to counter land constraint.

As many coastal cities in Southeast Asia do not have adequate sewage treat facilities, the population growth leads to the release of nitrogen into reefs systems. An example is Indonesia, where treatment of sewages is available for fewer than 2% of its population.