Determining land use change pattern in southern Nigeria: A comparative study

Abstract

The use of land for different purposes makes it an essential commodity. The fact that it is fixed in supply constitute a problem to land usage. This paper presents a land use change pattern analysis in the three geopolitical zones of southern Nigeria as a prerequisite towards the development of adequate human health monitoring model for the study area. The land area of Ebonyi Edo and Ondo states were used for the study. Time series of multitemporal landsat satellite imageries of four different epochs from 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2016 that were obtained from the United State Geological Survey was used for the analysis. The results indicate that there is substantial change of land use from 2000 to 2016 for the built-up land, forestland, farmland and mixed land in the study area. On the other hand, water body and rock outcrop land show less significant land use change. Other types of land decreases as the built-up land increases. The findings suggest that animals such as rat, monkey and rabbit that have their homes in the forest and farmland would be displaced, and might be tempted to dwell among men, which implies that humanity in the Southern Nigeria might become susceptible to diseases.