Spatio-Temporal Land-Cover Change Analysis of the Imo River Estuarine Wetlands and its Implication on the Mangrove Ecosystem

Land-cover in coastal areas determines to an extent the degree its surrounding water bodies differ from their pristine nature. Change mapping within coastal wetlands especially in areas prone to anthropogenic activities will help protect these fragile habitats. A land-cover change analysis was carried out on the Imo River estuary covering about 724 hectares of the estuarine wetlands, using 3 satellite images of the area acquired from Landsat 5TM (1986), Landsat 7 ETM (2000) and Landsat 8 OLI (2016) for a period of 30 years. Results showed that mangrove vegetation decreased by 17.5%, crop and grassland increased by 17% while total coverage of settlements increased by 3.4%. This implies that mangrove vegetation has significantly depleted over time and if this trend is not checked could lead to increase siltation of the river through runoff as a result of deforestation. There is also a likelihood of increase waste discharge directly or indirectly into the river by neighboring communities. It is recommended that proper waste management practices be adopted to suit urban growth within these communities and constant monitoring should be carried out using high resolution images to monitor coastal wetlands to protect fishes and other endangered species