Geospatial Assessment of Deforestation in Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria from 1987 to 2021

Abstract

The expansion of urban areas directly leads to deforestation resulting in the loss of ecosystems and environmental problems such as soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, air pollution, as well as climate change. This study aims to assess deforestation in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria from the year 1987 to 2021 using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). The maximum likelihood supervised classification method in ENVI 5.3 was employed to classify the territory into four classes, which include forestland, grassland, built up area, and surface water. An increasing trend was observed in the built up area, grassland, and surface water. However, the forestland decreased significantly from 4059.43 km² in 1987 to 2265.28 km² in 2021. The result indicates massive deforestation in Abuja, and it is recommended that proper urban planning and policies that will mitigate urban sprawl be initiated and implemented in Abuja. Policies that mandate house owners to plant trees and lawns in their compounds should be made and implemented, and proper conservation policies should be implemented to conserve forestland.