Assessment of Landuse/Landcover Change in Kwali Area Council Using Geo-Informatic Techniques

This study examined the land use land cover changes in Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria. The study applied Geospatial techniques by using satellite images of 1990 and 2014 to assess the land use land cover changes in the study area (Kwali Area council) by Classifying the satellite imageries using supervised classification scheme, to determine the percentage change in land use/ land cover of the study area and the implication of land use/ land cover scenarios from 1990 to 2014. Result of the findings from 1990 include bare surface 1.7%, built up area 4.21%, farmland 56%, grass/shrublands 5.3%, riparian vegetation 3.3%, rock outcrops 25.27%, wetland/water bodies 4.47% while result for 2014 include bare surface 2%, built up area 3.3%, farmland 56.6%, grass/shrublands 25.45%, riparian vegetation 1.07%, rock outcrops 21.67%, wetland/water bodies 0.13%. The resulting Map analysis shows that, there is considerable increase in the rate of farm activities in the area with little or no loss in vegetal cover to urbanization as is being experience in other area councils and Urbanization in Kwali area council is not as rapid in Kwali as other area council. The study suggested that, further study should be conducted to assess farming activities in the area by extending the study to 2015 and 2016 when the nation went in to recession that lead many Nigerians to go into farming to ascertain the current status of land use land cover change.