This term has been used environmentally in two distinct ways. The more historic use refers to making land productive for agriculture. The current usage refers mostly to the restoration of disturbed land to an ecologically stable condition.

The main application for agricultural purposes is the development of irrigation. That was the mission given in 1902 to the federal Bureau of Reclamation under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This agency has built a total of 180 water projects in 17 western states, including the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams in Arizona, and supplies 10 trillion gal (37.8 trillion l) of water to 31 million people every year. However, this type of reclamation has led to much environmental damage and now scientists are trying to figure out how to reverse this damage. The term reclamation has also been used to describe the system of dikes and pumps in the Netherlands to allow farming of lands...