Assessment of land uses and land cover change of Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, Nigeria

Abstract

Land use and land cover changes have become an issue of global interest, mainly as the results of unprecedented changes impacted on  the environment by Man to satisfy his economic needs. Landsat imageries of Ngel Nyaki forest reserve for 2002, 2012 and 2022 were  obtained, based on availability. The images were classified into five land use and land cover change (Dense forest land, Spares Forest  Land, Grass Land and Bare Land). The results of the findings from the classification shows Dense forest land (680.13ha, 706.23ha and  542.52ha), Spares Forest Land (95.94ha, 137.07ha, and 188.73ha), Grass Land (224.64ha, 214.02, 223.83ha) and Bare Land (56.61ha, 0.00ha, 102.24ha) for 2002, 2012 and 2022 respectively. The dense forest was observed to have greater proportion of the land cover compare to  other classes, which is an indication of the potential of the forest reserve in carbon sequestration as well as species richness. Finally,  remote sensing techniques was sufficiently deployed to estimate the land use and land cover classification of Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve  which is now available for the forest manager to make an informed decision in sustainable management of the forest reserve.