Sng Ei Jia (30) 2e7 6 July 2010 LORMs Question With reference to specific and relevant examples, evaluate

the effectiveness of responses to rising land demand. (8m) There are 5 responses to rising land demand. Firstly is to increase the price of land. Secondly is land clearance. Thirdly, is land reclamation. Fourthly, is urban landuse. Lastly, it is agricultural landuse. Land prices change over time and from place to place. Higher land prices are caused by a decrease in supply or an increase in demand. Land prices are much higher in large urban areas like Kuala Lumpur than in rural areas of Peninsular Malaysia. This is due to the high demand of land in urban areas and the relatively abundant land supply in rural areas. Price mechanism controls the allocation of land uses. Land prices generally decrease with distance from the city centre. Thus, activities that are able to pay the highest rentals are often found in the city centre. Activities that require a larger floor area would more likely be located in the outskirts of the city. When many businesses compete for the same favorable location, the price of land will rise. Thus price is and

effective tool to allocate the scarce land in competitive situation. The closer one gets to the city centre, the more expensive the land becomes. Due to the high land value, activities found in the city centre generate high income or profits. Land clearance is a type of massive deforestation projects due to the needs of people. In 1850, there was a 20 million kilometers squared of rainforest. But in 2005, only 9 to 12 kilometers squared of rainforest are left. Land clearance is use for commercial logging where forests provide timber, where products such as paper and furniture are made for sale. Also, modern equipment used to log trees speeds up the rate at which trees are being cut down. There is uncontrolled economic development accelerates deforestation which causes damage to land or land pollution. Land clearance is also use for agriculture purposes as cattle ranchers need large areas of land for rearing of cattle. Herds of cattle are raised for beef and exported to many countries. Plantation agriculture also requires large pieces of land. Shifting cultivation is an example of land clearance whereby clearing of tress by slash and burn method to grow crops. After a few years, land is then abandoned as nutrients decrease. Therefore, land clearance is used for land clearance, shifting cultivation, cattle ranching and plantation agriculture which are examples of deforestation. What is more important, the rate of re-

growth trees is much slower than the speed of which deforestation occurs. Deforestation causes plants and animals habitats to be destroyed, affects the hydrological cycle and, soil erosion and soil leaching occur as top soil which contains the soil nutrients lose their fertility gradually. With fewer trees, there will be a decrease in evapotranspiration, decrease in rainfall. There are 3 methods of reclaiming land. The landfill method is used to create land by raining waterlogged areas such as swamps and marshes and filling them with material like sand to form dry land. In Singapore, land reclamation mostly at the South-East, South-West and North-East. In 1962, there was reclamation of mangrove swamps in Jurong and Bedok land reclamation project in 1963 for housing. Singapore land area grew from 1966 to 2004 as more land is needed for growing economy, including commercial, industrial and infrastructure development. The other method is empoldering which is by creating land from the sea through the use of polders. Careful land use planning is necessary on empoldering projects as there is a need to balance between making the best use of land and causing the lease harm to the environment. Dutch turned marshlands, lakes and seas into farmlands through empoldering and farmers benefited most as water supply could be controlled in their fields and did not have to depend on rain and or fight the flooding.

The last method is reclaiming derelict land that is badly damaged and cannot be used effectively. Land can be damaged by human activities and natural disasters like forest fires and severe floods. Urban landuse can be maximized by mixed landuse and high density building. In mixed landuse, large citied with a long history of development, different activities are carried out together in the old city centre, commercial activities on the ground floors and there is the convenience of having homes, jobs, services and facilities in the same area and wide. But, construction and reconstruction of new and old buildings as well as transport networks can be costly and there will be an increase in traffic congestion, noise and air pollution at mixed landuse. In high density buildings, buildings are build closely together as more people can work and live in an small land area, scarce land is freed up for other landuses such as conservation and military installations and the rate at which green spaces are developed is reduced. However, it creates a crowded environment, traffic congestion and higher noise levels and there is an increase in stress levels and reduction of quality of life. Agricultural landuse areas can be maximized using irrigation, terracing and soil-less farming. Terracing is faming on steps cut into hillside. It is an inexpensive method of increasing the area of arable land. But if not

properly maintained, irrigation canals can hold stagnant waters which may become breeding sites for bacteria, mosquitoes and other pests. An example is in Thailand, where they grow crops like padi. In soil-less farming, less land needed but the supply of food will not be affected as this farming method does not requires soil and the crops are grown closer together. Examples are hydroponics and aeroponics. However, farmers must invest in high technology equipment and specially prepared nutrient solutions for plants, which can be too costly for farmers who do not have enough funds. Last but not least, irrigation is the supply of water to area that was formally not suitable for cultivation and it can be computerized which can water plants automatically and efficiently, reducing the need for human labour. But, with poor drainage, irrigation may cause land to become waterlogged and sometimes the river water that is used for irrigation may contain high amounts of dissolved minerals salts, which can cause damage to crops. An example is the Aswan High Dam in Egypt.