Human-Nature Interactions in the Owo River Catchment, South-West, Nigeria

摘要

This paper examines the interactions and feedbacks between environmental and human variables within the Owo River catchment by analyzing land use change, morphometric dynamics, rainfall stationarity and water quality using statistical approach. The results show that built-up land use grew from 142.92 km~(2) (12.20%) in 1984 to 367.22 km~(2) (31.36%) in 2013 at an average growth rate of 7.73 km~(2) per annum. Total streams length reduced from 622.24 km in 1964 to 556 km in 2010 while stream density reduced from 0.53 in 1964 to 0.47 in 2010. The Mann-Kendall trend test (p-value = 0.022) indicates rainfall non-stationarity. The river has a low level of pollutant loading while annual water abstraction balances water supply. The human environment interaction has not at present critically affected water supply (quality and quantity) but continuous loss of vegetation poses greater challenges.