Issues in Coastal Areas Relating to Housing and Squatters in Kenya

Introduction:

This research comes to conclude by arguing that informal housing and squatters in Honiara Urban Centre have many implications on the coastal environment, marine ecosystem, and the people. It has been strongly argued by most writers that the continuous increase of housing and squatters near coastal areas has put pressure on the natural habitats and all the ecosystems therein, not only but also has an adverse impact on the marine species.

Issues in relation to housing and Squatters along the coast in most pacific Island countries including Solomon Island are among some of the issue which have contribute much on the destruction of the Coastal Environment and its resources. In the case of Solomon Islands in particularly the urban Centre in Honiara, most of the developments are more concentrated in the coastal areas. In the urban Centre in Honiara it is obvious that most of the housing and squatters developments are concentrated at the coast.

Negative implication of housing and Squatters to coastal areas:

However, the migration of people from rural to Honiara urban Centre has resulted to a lot of informal housing and squatters being built on the coast. Obviously, the research have indicated several important issues in relation to housing and squatters and its implication to coastal areas and marine resources. As being stated by many writers that due to the influence of urbanization process and increase of rural-urban migration of people, Honiara have experienced lots of issues rooted out from the development of informal housing and squatters done by people which really affects the coastal resources and the environmental as a whole.

Habitats destruction and degradation on coastal area:

Development of housing and squatters in the coastal areas leads to the destruction and degradation of coastal habitats. Destruction and degradation of coastal habitats is an on-going issue along the coast of Honiara Urban Centre. This issue come about due to the continue development of housing and squatters settlement along the coast by rural-urban dwellers. Generally, Natural habitats are homes of almost hundreds, thousands and millions of coastal ecosystems and marine resources.

Pollution on coastal Environment:

Another main issue that can be identified is coastal pollution. Pollution is one of the common issue that is linked to the development of housing and squatter settlements on the coast and within the urban Centre in Honiara. In Honiara, one can observed that most housing and squatter settlements are concentrated on the coastal areas and the probability for pollution to occur is high, this is because the more people living on the squatters and higher the risk of pollution will occur. According to Hou & kudu (2012), they have argued the pollution on the coast of Honiara is one of the devastating issue that had affects the life almost a thousand and millions of marine life. Basically it is caused by human activities such as littering, dispose rubbish on coastal areas and so on.

Destruction and loss of historical and traditional sites:

Loss of historical and traditional sites is another debatable issue in relation to housing and squatter settlements along the coast of Honiara. This issue is become a controversial issue for most people especially land owners, people and the government in Honiara. As the population of rural-urban dwellers increased in Honiara, most sites particularly historical and traditional sites have been turn into housing and squatter zone. This issue bring about conflicts among people especially landowners and residents of the squatter settlement. In Solomon Islands in general, majority of land are customary own land meaning, primarily these land are owned by locals.

Degradation and exploitation of nearby coastal marine resources:

Exploitation of nearby coastal marine resources is another main issue that is obvious in Honiara Coastal area. This issue come about as a result of the continue building of both unplanned and plan houses and squatter settlements on the coast of Honiara urban Centre. In Honiara, one can observed that most people who settled along the coast are mostly rural-urban dwellers. Most of them are low income earner while others are unemployed.

Propose mitigation strategies to address the issues identified:

To address the main issues that have been discussed above, it is important to consider the following propose mitigation strategies or measures.

Proper Urban Housing design and planning:

Firstly, proper urban planning and designed is one good strategy to address the issues related to the impacts of housing and squatters in the coastal areas. In the case of Honiara, proper planning and designed was enforced by the Honiara City Council in collaboration with the Government and the Ministry of lands, housing and survey to deal with the informal and illegal set up of housing and squatter settlements along the coast of Honiara urban Centre.

Proper waste disposal sites and waste Management plans:

Secondly, providing proper waste disposal sites to dispose rubbish together with waste management plan should be carried out and implemented to address issues related to informal housing and squatters within and on the coast of Honiara urban Centre. Obviously, waste management is one of the big issues nowadays that people fail to cope up. In the case of Honiara, Ranadi disposal site is the only sites that people in the Honiara used to dispose rubbish and other toxic substance, however people don’t managed to reached that sites most times because of the distance, therefore; using proper waste disposal strategies such as the used of rubbish bin is one good way to address the issue.

Decentralization of Housing policy:

Decentralization of housing policy is another measure or strategy that needs to be implemented to reduce the issues and impact of informal housing and squatters in the Honiara Urban Centre. In Solomon Islands particularly in Honiara, most of the government services, functions and developments are concentrated mostly in the urban Centre of Honiara.

Proper registration of land and housing:

Proper registering of land and housing is one also a good strategy can be used to reduce the issue of informal housing and squatters in Honiara. Many people stated that informal housing and squatter have caused many issues in the Honiara urban Centre therefore; they urge the Government through the ministry of land, housings and survey to ensure that all houses are properly registered to avoid issues to happen at any time now and in the future.

Conclusion:

In summary, this research come to conclude by arguing that informal housing and squatters in Honiara Urban Centre have many implication on the coastal environment, marine ecosystem and the people. It has been strongly argued by most writers that the continue increase of housing and squatters near coastal areas have put pressure to the natural habitats and all the ecosystem there in, not only that but also in has an adverse impacts to the marine species. It also stated that apart from housing and squatters, there are some factors that also contribute as well these includes the pressure of population growth and urbanization process which reinforce people to migrate to the urban Centre in Honiara and build houses.

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