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Appraisal of GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Land and Environmental Management in Nigeria

Innocent E Bello, Alex S Ortese, Dorathy A Dogara

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

References

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