Effect of cement factory on land use-land cover in Obajana Lokoja Local Government Area, Kogi State, Nigeria

摘要

Land use-land cover (LULC) is a vital phenomenon for the understanding interactions between the environment and human activities. In order to study and manage the resultant changes, it is pertinent to map different themes from time to time. The study focuses on the effect of the location of cement factory on land use-land cover in Obajana Community, Lokoja Local Government Area Kogi, Nigeria. The study employed supervised digital image classification method using Arc GIS 10.2 and ILWIS 3.3 Academic to classify the area into bare surface/degraded area, built-up area, vegetation and water body. The study revealed that changes have occurred within the period, 2005 to 2015; vegetal cover decreased by -19.2 km2 (49.74%), built-up area has increased by 2.1 km2 (5.44%). Bare surface/degraded area increased by 2.1 km2 (5.44%). A decrease of -0.1 km2 representing -0.26% was observed in the water body. It is therefore, recommended that land use land cover changes should be monitored at an interval of ten to fifteen years not only for urban planning purposes but to improve and manage land and land resources in a sustainable way.