Journal of Geography and Earth Sciences

Analysis of Land Use-Land Cover Changes in Zuru and Its Environment of Kebbi State, Nigeria Using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System Technology
Mohammed Nanoh Bello, Idowu Innocent Abbas, Benedine Akpu

Abstract
The environment in recent times has been known to be greatly modified through the activities of man and his technology, this research is therefore concerned with the use of Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing techniques in analyzing land use-land cover changes in Zuru and its environment between 1986 and 2008 as a result of human and natural causes. The land use-land cover changes of Zuru and its environment for a period of twenty two years were analyzed using Land sat (TM) imageries of 1986, 1999 and Landsat (ETM) imagery of 2008. The study employed supervised Classification method using software of ILWIS 3.4 and ArcGIS 9.3. The land use-land covers were classified into built up, vegetation, bare surfaces and water body. The result of the work revealed that the period between 1999 and 2008 witnessed reduction in the rate of physical expansion of the city as against 1986 and 1999. Indeed, this may be due to the lost in the zeal to come back home to build but rather preferred to build in cities like Abuja, Kaduna and Sokoto where there were more social amenities than they were available in the study area.

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