An Assessment of Land Use and Cover Changes in the Kainji Lake Basin, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper assesses the land-use and land-cover changes within the Kainji Lake basin between 1975 and 2018 – a period of 38 years, using remotely sensed data and geographic information systems (GIS). Since 1968 when the River Niger was impounded and Kainji Lake created, various anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, irrigation deforestation, fishing, and tion environmental degradation and the damage of the ecosystem of the lake basin. Landsat MSS image of 1975, Landsat TM of 1987 and Landsat ETM+ images of 1999 and 2005 and Landsat Operational Land Imager OLI of 2018 were acquired, classified and analysed between 1975 and 2018. Area calculations of the arc GIS 10.2.2 software were used to derive the trends, rates and magnitudes of changes, while map overlay was employed for assessing the nature and location where the changes have taken place. The study reveals that the rate of deforestation and erosion in the study area is linked to population increase that lead to expansion of agricultural lands. Uncontrolled human settlement and demand for fuel wood were some other issues to contend with. If this issue of land degradation is not appropriately dealt wiith, power supply and fisheries production will further reduced and this is detrimental to the development od Nigeria as a whole.. Finally, it is hoped that the findings from the study will provide useful insight into the current state of the environment, and the recommendations proposed in this paper would equally be helpful to mitigate, control and to improve the management of the basin. The federal government should take the lead in implimenting the management options for the benefits of fisherfolks and farmers in the Lake Basin in general.