CHANGE DETECTION ANALYSIS OF LANDUSE AND LANDCOVER IN KAFANCHAN, KADUNA STATE

Abstract

This research involves the examination of how changes occurred on the land use and land cover of Kafanchan within the period of two decades (1986-2014). The satellite imagery used was Landsat TM for the year 1986, 2000 and Landsat ETM+ for the year 2014. The imageries were separately classified into various land uses. The result shows a rapid growth in built-up areas from 1986 to 2007. During these years, vegetation cover has decreased seriously from 2641.85ha in 1986 to 1182.51ha in 2014 bare surfaces also decreased from 1837.08ha in 2000 to 913.68ha in 2014. These changes came as a result of increase in human population and their corresponding diverse activities on land thereby modifying the environment negatively or positively through climate change, deforestation, and other form of development as observed by the researcher. Recommendation were made that satellite imageries should be taken consistently with defined time interval to aid a closer and up to date monitoring of changes in the environment and land use mapping should frequently be carried out to meet the rising need of planning.