Land use changes and forest reserve management in a changing environment: South-western Nigeria experience
Keywords:
Land covers, land use, human-induced, sustainable management, changing environment.Abstract
This paper investigates how human activities have influenced and altered land cover. It also indicates
that the nature of cultural substitution of the indigenous forest species have significance for the
functioning of the earth system. It therefore attempts to quantify the ecological implication of land
cover change consequent upon land use. The paper integrated a topographical map of 1969 and
satellite imageries from Landsat MSS 1972, and Landsat TM 1991 and 2000 with ground truthing and
socio-economic surveys to assess changes in forest resource use and land cover in south- western
Nigeria. The study argues that land cover modification and conversion is directly related to loss of
biodiversity and has negative effect on the ecological setting and that there is need to develop more
environmentally and socially equitable approaches to forest management.
