Analysis of land use/land cover change and urbanization to achieving sustainable development in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

<p>The perception of land use change dynamics is important for sustainable land resource management in developing countries such as Nigeria where most of the people depend on natural resources from the land for their livelihoods. Globally, land use and land cover (LULC) change is a major factor of environmental and climate change; rapid urban growth has caused some environmental problems such as loss of agricultural land, land degradation, water shortage, and pollution. This dissertation examines LULC change and urbanization, and the implications on sustainable development (SD) in Lagos Nigeria using spatial analysis. The dissertation contains three inter-related studies as follows: first research examines the urban sprawl and growth prediction for Lagos using GlobeLand30 product combined with GIS and Cellular Automata model. The next study ascertains land use change and impacts on urban and rural areas utilizing landscape metrics (LMs) and FRAGSTATS algorithm for statistical analysis. The final study reviews the agricultural land use and urban sustainability. This study demonstrated the efficiency of GlobeLand30 data and GIS integration with CA_Markov for LULC change analysis and prediction of future LULC scenarios. This research has shown that LMs are universal, potent, and useful to understand the spatial pattern of LULC change in urban-rural context. In conclusion, the outcomes of this study will help the urban planners, policymakers, and the governments in Nigeria to make crucial informed decisions about sustainable urban growth and improved land use management.</p>