Appraisal of GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Land and Environmental Management in Nigeria
Abstract
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are now central tools for land resource mapping, administration and environmental management worldwide. In Nigeria - a country with diverse ecosystems ranging from coastal mangroves and the Niger Delta to Sahelian drylands — GIS/RS applications have been increasingly used to monitor land-use/land-cover (LULC) change, coastal erosion and shoreline dynamics, flood risk and disaster mapping, desertification, wetland and biodiversity assessment, pollution (including oil-spill) monitoring, and urban expansion. This paper appraises the state of GIS/RS applications in Nigerian environmental management: surveying key uses, recent advances, technical and institutional constraints, case-study evidence, and policy and research recommendations. We synthesize published studies and institutional capabilities (notably NASRDA and university research) to identify strengths (availability of multi-temporal satellite data, growing national capacity) and gaps (data-sharing, integration with decision- making, funding, and ground truthing). Finally, we propose a prioritized roadmap to strengthen GIS/RS contributions to sustainable land and environmental governance in Nigeria.
Keywords
GISRemote SensingEnvironmental ManagementNigeriaLand useFloodingCoastal erosionDesertificationNASRDA
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