Dynamics of Land Cover Change in the Anambra River Basin of Nigeria and Implications for Sustainable Land Management

Nnanjar G. Njar; Chima J. Iheaturu; Utibe B. Inyang; Chukwuma J. Okolie; Olagoke E. Daramola; Michael J. Orji

doi:10.14746/quageo-2024-0011

.blurhash-client-img { display: none !important; }

Dynamics of Land Cover Change in the Anambra River Basin of Nigeria and Implications for Sustainable Land Management

Quaestiones Geographicae

Volume 43 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

By: Nnanjar G. Njar , Chima J. Iheaturu , Utibe B. Inyang , Chukwuma J. Okolie , Olagoke E. Daramola and Michael J. Orji

Open Access

|Mar 2024

Figures & Tables

Map of Nigeria showing the location of the Anambra River Basin (A). Map of the Anambra River Basin showing the relief pattern and state boundaries (B).

Table 1.

Characteristics of the Landsat imageries.

Landsat mission	Path/row	Acquisition date	Spatial resolution [m]	Band composition
Landsat 4–5 TM (Thematic Mapper)	188/55	04.01.1986	30	4–3–2
Landsat 4–5 TM (Thematic Mapper)	188/56	21.12.1987	30	4–3–2
Landsat 7 ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper)	188/55	17.12.2000	30	5–4–3
Landsat 7 ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper)	188/56	09.01.2001	30	5–4–3
Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor)	188/55	09.01.2018	30	6–5–4
	188/56	25.01.2018	30	6–5–4

Table 2.

Land cover classification scheme.

S/N	Land cover class	Description
1	Vegetation	Cropland and pasture fields, grassland and fallow land
2	Wetland	Marsh or swamp
3	Waterbody	Inland rivers, ponds and small lakes
4	Built-up area	Residential, commercial and industrial areas; settlements; and transportation infrastructure
5	Bare land	Tilled farmland, sand-filled land and rocky area

Anambra River Basin land cover maps for 1987, 2000 and 2018.

Table 3.

Land cover distribution for 1987, 2000 and 2018.

Land cover class	1987		2000		2018
Land cover class	[km²]	[%]	[km²]	[%]	[km²]	[%]
Waterbody	41.18	0.37	46.06	0.41	45.38	0.41
Built-up area	168.28	1.51	201.42	1.80	382.87	3.42
Wetland	2479.71	22.18	1102.15	9.86	1047.99	9.37
Vegetation	8373.33	74.89	9643.82	86.27	9549.34	85.43
Bare land	118.29	1.06	185.03	1.66	153.02	1.37
Total	11,180.80	100.00	11,178.48	100.00	11,178.58	100.00

A comparison of positive and negative changes in land cover; 1987–2000 in blue, 2000–2018 in orange and 1987–2018 in grey colours.

Table 4.

Areal chanes in land cover in 1987–2000 2000–2018 and 1987–2018.

Land cover class	1987–2000		2000–2018		1987–2018
Land cover class	[km²]	[%]	[km²]	[%]	[km²]	[%]
Waterbody	4.88	11.85	−0.68	−1.49	4.19	10.20
Built-up areas	33.14	19.69	181.45	90.09	214.59	127.52
Wetland	−1377.57	−55.55	−54.16	−4.91	−1431.73	−57.74
Vegetation	1270.49	15.17	−94.49	−0.98	1176.01	14.04
Bare land	66.73	56.41	−32.01	−17.3	34.72	29.36

Transition probability matrix for land cover maps from 1987 to 2000 (A). Transition probability matrix for land cover maps from 2000 to 2018 (B). Transition probability matrix for land cover maps from 1987 to 2018 (C).

Table 5.

Transition matrix of land cover change (km²), 1987–2000.

Land cover class		2000
Land cover class		Waterbody	Built-up area	Wetland	Vegetation	Bare land	Total
1987	Waterbody	23.69	0.44	3.63	12.10	1.25	41.11
	Built-up area	0.08	57.63	0.78	105.20	4.38	168.07
	Wetland	5.94	3.66	697.13	1761.91	9.48	2478.13
	Vegetation	13.88	132.32	394.69	7676.33	150.77	8367.99
	Bare land	2.45	7.18	5.37	84.07	19.09	118.17
	Total	46.04	201.24	1101.60	9639.61	184.97	11,173.46

Table 6.

Transition matrix of land cover change (km²), 2000–2018.

Land cover class		2018
Land cover class		Waterbody	Built-up area	Wetland	Vegetation	Bare land	Total
2000	Waterbody	28.20	0.26	6.79	9.16	1.645	46.05
	Built-up area	0.06	87.57	1.99	107.46	4.26	201.34
	Wetland	3.55	33.66	603.10	452.36	9.34	1102.00
	Vegetation	12.27	252.50	427.42	8825.93	124.78	9642.90
	Bare land	1.30	8.70	8.61	153.48	12.92	185.01
	Total	45.37	382.69	1047.92	9548.39	152.95	11,177.31

Table 7.

Transition matrix of land cover change (km²), 1987–2018.

Land cover class		2018
Land cover class		Waterbody	Built-up area	Wetland	Vegetation	Bare land	Total
1987	Waterbody	21.07	0.48	4.37	13.86	1.34	41.11
	Built-up area	0.05	54.21	1.68	108.71	3.44	168.09
	Wetland	6.03	43.47	658.79	1755.70	14.26	2478.25
	Vegetation	16.07	277.59	380.86	7570.97	122.78	8368.28
	Bare land	2.13	6.86	1.88	96.24	11.06	118.17
	Total	45.35	382.62	1047.57	9545.48	152.89	11,173.89

Comparison between the classified land cover of 2018 and the predicted land cover of 2018.

Table 8.

Comparison between land cover for 2018 and the projected land cover for 2030.

Land cover class	2018	Projected 2030
Waterbody	45.38	44.59
Built-up area	382.87	377.93
Wetland	1047.99	1035.37
Vegetation	9549.34	9572.94
Bare land	153.02	148.06
Total	11,178.58	11,178.90

Table 9.

Correlation relationship between population and land cover.

	Population	Built-up area	Bare land	Waterbody	Wetland	Vegetation
Population	1	1.000**	−0.998**	−0.999**	−0.998**	−0.999**
Built-up area	1.000**	1	−0.998**	−0.999**	−0.998**	−0.999**
Bare land	−0.998**	−0.998**	1	1.000**	1.000**	1.000**
Waterbody	−0.999**	−0.999**	1.000**	1	1.000**	1.000**
Wetland	−0.998**	−0.998**	1.000**	1.000**	1	1.000**
Vegetation	−0.999**	−0.999**	1.000^**	1.000**	1.000**	1

1** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2024-0011 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103 (formerly 0137-477X)

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 179 - 195

Submitted on: Jun 25, 2023

Published on: Mar 20, 2024

Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

land cover,

neural network,

cellular automata Markov model,

population growth,

Sustainable Development Goals

Related subjects:

Geosciences,

Geography

© 2024 Nnanjar G. Njar, Chima J. Iheaturu, Utibe B. Inyang, Chukwuma J. Okolie, Olagoke E. Daramola, Michael J. Orji, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 43 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

Dynamics of Land Cover Change in the Anambra River Basin of Nigeria and Implications for Sustainable Land Management

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Table 1.

Table 2.

Fig. 3.

Table 3.

Fig. 4.

Table 4.

Fig. 5.

Table 5.

Table 6.

Table 7.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

Table 8.

Table 9.

Paradigm

My account