ANALYSIS OF LAND USE CHANGE IN IKOT EKPENE LGA.pdf

This study analyzed land use change in Ikot EkpeneLGA with a view to determining the character of land use, trend and rate of change. Data on land uses were obtained through landsat satellite imagery for the three epochs of 1980, 2000 and 2020; and were used in determining character, trend and magnitude of land Use change in the study area. The imageries were processed using ArcGis 9.1 software. The field checks were conducted with a handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) and field note. Observations of land use characteristics and human imprints were made and recorded. A total of 150 checkpoints were used for ground truthing, this was far higher than the ideal number of checkpoints required and were stored as GPS waypoints. The coordinates (together with descriptions) were imported into ArcGis and added to the GIS database as an event theme and were converted into a data layer. This theme of field coordinates was then used as the basis for assessing accuracy of the interpreted imageries. The use of handheld GPS as opposed to the traditional method of pixel selection made the field verification exercise fast, accurate and reliable. The findings characterized the land use of the Ikot Ekpene LGA into four classes of thick forest, cultivated farm land, built up area and water body. The result of image analysis shows that in 1980, thick forest was the dominant land use covering 45.98% of the study area, cultivated farm land took up 30.65% of the area, Built-up area and water body took up 20.35% and 3.02 % respectively. In the year 2000, cultivated farmland became the dominant land use class with an areal coverage of 56.333km2 (44.19%), built up area was 45.346km2 (35.57%), thick forest covered an area of 25.755km2 (20.20%) and water body had an areal extent of 3.046km2 (2.39%). However in the year 2020,the built up area was the dominant land use class covering 61.529km2 (48.27%) of the study area, cultivated farmland covered 33.231km2 (26.06%), thick forest had an areal extent of 30.158km2 (23.66%) and water body had an areal extent of 2.562km2 (2.01%). The built up area increased by 35.591km2 at an annual change of 20.008%. This study indicates that urban development has greatly induced land use change in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area with a drastic increase in the built-up area while farmland, water bodies and forests experienced significant decrease, and thus, implies urgent need for environmental conservation and protection. Therefore, these findings serve to provide urban managers with vital information on areas to focus in order to control the changing pattern of land use, at least by lowering its change rate. There is the need for updating the master plan of Ikot Ekpene town and preparation of local plans so as to earmark areas with large expanse of forest as conservation areas.