Urban Sprawl and Its Impact on Land Use/Cover Change of Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Keywords:
Urban expansion, land use dynamics, satellite data, NigeriaAbstract
One of the major consequences of expansive urban growth is the degradation and loss of forest and productive agricultural land. This study examined urban growth and changes in land use/cover of the study area between 1986 and 2017; measured the extent of urban expansion; assessed its impact on forest and agricultural land area. Multi-date Landsat satellite imageries of 1986, 2000 and 2017 (Landsat TM, Landsat ETM+ and Landsat OLI respectively) with spatial resolution of 30m were used for the study. The imageries were used to generate land use/cover for the study period. While Landsat TM 1986 and ETM+ 2000 were processed in ILWIS 3.3 Academic software, Landsat OLI 2017 was processed in Erdas Imagine 9.2 software because of compatibility. All the imageries were geometrically corrected, enhanced and classified into five different land uses/covers. The classes include built-up area/urban, agro-forestry, water body, shrub/fallow/farmlands and bare rocks. The result shows that the land uses/covers exhibited changes with time. Between 1986 and 2000, the area of agroforestry increased by 9.6% due to the prevailing season. But the reverse was the case between 2000 and 2017 when the land use decreased by 21.1%. The urban area increased steadily. From 1986 to 2000, the areal extent rose by 1.8% and rapidly increased by 12.3% within the period of 15 years (2000-2017). On the contrary, the shrub/fallow area decreased from 9.8% between 1986 and 2000 and further decreased by 1% between 2000 and the year 2017. There were variations in the coverage of water body with time. However, the area occupied by exposed rock became more widened as urban expanded. In conclusion, urban expansion induced serious alteration on the natural environment in the study area thus; urban planners and the policymakers should make efforts at directing urban growth away from sensitive ecological areas
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