ASSESSMENT OF 30 YEARS LAND USE AND LAND COVERCHANGES OF DOMA NASARAWA STATE

Abstract

This study aimed at using remote sensing in assessing and identifying the land use and land cover change in Doma Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa within the period of 30 years. The Landsat images, Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS and 4-5 TM, within an interval of 30 years from 1991 to 2023, were used to identify the land use. Supervised classification techniques and five broad classifications were used to classify land use changes. In 1991, dense forest (64888.66 ha) and moderate forest (99960.03 ha) dominated the land use. In 2023, the dense forest was completely lost, while the moderate forest was reduced significantly to 85903.38 ha (33.13 %). This represents significant negative changes in dense forest (-100 %) and moderate forest (-14.06 %). Change in area between the study periods shows a significant increase in built-up areas (9.83 %) and open land (643.9 %). This shows that the land use change was mainly driven by urbanisation, coupled with the resultant increased rate of land conversion for agriculture. Accuracy assessment for LULC classification for 1991 shows an overall accuracy of 86.30 % while that of 2023 was 73.40 %. This study indicates a significant loss of vegetation cover within this period, leading to the decimation of vegetation and calls for aggressive reforestation and urgent conservation practices to prevent continuous vegetation loss in Doma LGA.