A study on the effects of land use change on flooding risks in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying the drivers of land use change and their effects on flood risks in Nigeria. The study presumed that changes to land use and their drivers could affect the level of risks to natural disasters. From the research; we identified the factors responsible for land use changes in Nigeria between 2000 and 2013 and their effects on the level of flooding risks. The multinomial logistic regression models the probability of land use changes and their impact on flooding risks, as a function of explicit independent variables. The results show that Economic, biophysical, demographic and climatic variables were the significant determinants of land use change. Additionally, while assessing the relationship between the changes in land use and flood risks, agricultural, settlement and forest land use had the most significant contributions to the changes in the level of flood risks. The result of this study would aid in the contribution and improvement of efficient countermeasures for flooding disasters. Therefore ensuring the prioritisation of the flood hazard areas and future land development.