An Examination of Long Term Variation in Landuse/Landcover Types in Jalingo Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the changes in land use/land cover (LULC) in Jalingo between 1988 and 2006. Six LULC types were classified in the study area from Landsat TM image of 1988, and Landsat ETM image of 1999.The six LULC types were bareland, built-up, cultivation, shrubland, water body and wetland. The data were analyzed using thinning, overlay operations, ground truthing, calculation of the area in km² of the resulting LULC type.The software used in the analysis are ERDAS and ILWIS 3.2.The areas of bareland, cultivation, water body, shrubland and wetland have decreased by 1.53km² (1.6%), 19.22km² (71%),0.15km² (0.6%) 0.22km² (0.81%) and1.64km² (6.0%) from 1988 to 2006. Conversely, the area of built-up land has increased by 15.62km² (40.2%) during the same period. Built-up land lost 11.64km²and gain 27.2km² from 1988 to 2006 with the highest contribution of 19.22km² (71%) from cultivated land. The study recommended among others, the need for appropriate legislations to be put in place to check indiscriminate sprawling. The study concludes that increase in the proportion of urban population is the principal driver of land use/land cover change in Jalingo town.