VICTORIA RESERVE
Environment and Protection
Despite these events, extreme climate change has resulted in recurring storms that not only threaten Victoria Island but the mainland areas of Lagos as well. As a result, it was decided that following its evacuation, Victoria Island—the former business and wealth hub of Lagos—would be repurposed as an environmental reserve. This newly established Victoria Reserve protects Lagos from storm surges by deconstructing existing buildings and infrastructures in order to rewild the entirety of the Island. While the former petroleum industry and neoliberal urbanization decimated the existing mangroves along the Atlantic coast of Lagos, the new Victoria Reserve creates an opportunity to reestablish the mangroves and their associated habitats.
Caretakers
Among those who call Victoria Reserve home are a collection of caretakers who spend their lives in quite rewilded nature away from the city center. They are employed by the nonprofit Lagos protection group in order to conserve the habitat of Victoria reserve providing protection for the center city against recurring storm surge. Due to the recent migration of people to live in Victoria reserve, the Freetown residents, the habitat is slowly being demolished. This created conflicts between Caretakers and Freetown residents.
freetown victoria
In addition to this small population of caretakers, some former residents of Victoria Island and Eko Atlantic chose to remain in the Reserve as part of newly formed Freetown communities. They could be the next generation for the redevelopment of Victoria reserve.
Energy Landscape
the Lagos government established a network of renewable energy infrastructures off Victoria Reserve’s southern coast harnessing the energy from the intensified weather. This allowed Lagos to support the evergrowing population and mitigate the energy threatening the city.
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