Biofuel Production Induced Land-use Land-cover Change in Selected Geopolitical Zones of Nigeria

Abstract

Biofuel production activities have been reported in Nigeria but with not much focus on the environmental impacts. The study was restricted to three geographical zones of Nigeria where industrial-scale biofuel production activities have been reported. An <em>in-situ </em>visit to each zone was used to select the Area of Interest (AoI), which comprised of an industrial-scale production activity and its environment. The AoI was clipped on Landsat 2006 and NigeriaSat-X 2012 images. The feature space of the AoI was classified into the different land use and land cover classes to derive the change statistics. Changes in the vegetation density of the AoI were also carried out. The results showed increased human presence and decreased vegetation in the three zones, while there was an increase in the area occupied by farm land or cultivated areas and bare ground. The study concluded on the need for an early monitoring of the biofuel production activities in Nigeria so that the country can maximize the benefits.