There has been an increasing global and local interest in developing renewable, clean, and cheap energy towards achieving Goal number 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, decisions involving suitable and sustainable locations for renewable energy projects remain an important task. This study employed Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to spatially analyze and model wind farm site suitability in Nasarawa State. The aim is to integrate the environmental, social, and economic aspects of decision-making for identifying sustainable wind farm sites. The study distinguished between two sets of decision criteria: decision constraints and decision factors. The former defined the exclusion zones while the latter were standardized based on fuzzy logic to depict varying degrees of suitability across the State. The MCDA applied the weighted linear combination method, with relative weights generated through pairwise comparisons of the analytic hierarchy process to analyze three policy scenarios: equal weights, environmental/social priority, and economic priority scenario. A combination of resulting composite maps from the constraints and the factors gave the final suitability maps. The resulting suitability index (SI) for the respective policy scenario describes the degrees of suitability: Ideal locations were denoted by one (1) and the not suitable locations by zero (0), with values in-between depicting varying degrees of wind farm site suitability. Based on the SI, priority locations indicating areas with good prospects, in addition to the most suitable parcels of land, were identi-
Charcoal is no longer a source of energy to only rural households but also a demanded commodity in urban areas around the world which has resulted in the commercialization of its production, particularly rural dwellers of developing countries such as Nigeria. Given the observed growing significance of charcoal in rural and urban livelihoods in Nasarawa State, this paper examined the relationship between commercial charcoal production and socioeconomic characteristics of the people involved in the activity. The study employed descriptive survey using both qualitative and quantitative data drawn from primary and secondary sources. Questionnaire was administered to 450 respondents randomly sampled from commercial charcoal producers drawn from 6 communities and 3 LGAs of Nasarawa State. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were also conducted and the data obtained were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics in Microsoft Excel and SPSS (version 23). Results showed that commercial charcoal producers in the study area were mostly between 21 and 50 years with dominance of those between 31 and 40 (30.9%) while those above 50 years were least represented (6. 9%).There was slight dominance of women (52.4%) among the producers and the they were mostly primary (44%) and secondary (35.6%) school certificate. Majority (48.2%) had household size of 4 – 6 and more than half (52.9%) were married and earned 20,000 naira and below on monthly basis (46.4%). There is strong relationship between the socioeconomic status of the respondents and commercial charcoal production in the study area. Their socioeconomic status proved to have served significant motivation to their rising involvement in the activity. Also alternative economic activities that guarantees quick monetary rewards and is all age and gender engaging as well as requires no special skill and huge capitals for a start, should be planned for and introduced in the study area by the State Government.
Flood remains one of the most common natural disasters. Its rate of occurrence and the associated destructive tendency are on a rising scale across the globe. Flood risk may increase due to human activities. It could also decrease by appropriate flood management and planning. However, this requires upgraded and newly generated reliable and up to date floodplain and flood vulnerability maps. Hence, this study analysed the Niger-Benue river flood risk and vulnerability of 256 communities in Kogi State. The aim is to generate reliable up to date flood vulnerability maps that categorises the communities into different vulnerability zones and identify likely locations for erecting flood shelter/refugee camps during flood events in the State. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (STRM) Digital Elevation Datasets, the spatial location of 256 communities, shapefiles of Kogi State’s administrative boundaries and Niger-Benue river basin were among the datasets acquired for the study. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the study area was created to depict topography and the heights of each component of the terrain. Also, a 3km buffer distance was created around the Niger-Benue river and four vulnerability zones were defined based on the terrain and proximity components of each community. Furthermore, choropleth maps were generated for each vulnerability zone based on the number of communities per Local Government Area (LGA). Findings of this study revealed that out of the 256 sampled communities, 161 representing 62.89% are exposed to varying degrees of vulnerability due to Niger-Benue flooding. Out of these, 33 (12.89%) are highly vulnerable, whereas each of the vulnerable (64) and marginally vulnerable (64) communities accounted for 25%. The rest 37.11% constituted the not vulnerable communities (95). Out of the highly vulnerable communities, 27.27% accounted for those located on river banks and 72.73% for those located within a 3km distance from the river. The majority of the riverbank communities were found in Kogi, Lokoja and Ajaokuta LGAs. Igalamela Odolu, Kogi, Ofu and Bassa were among the LGAs with a high number of vulnerable communities. The not vulnerable communities were mostly located around the Agbaja Plateau and Okoro-Agbo hills in Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu and Yaba East LGAs. It was concluded that the 9 communities (Ajaokuta, Eroko, Iche, Jamata, Numai, Okume, Agodo, Denbor and Gunji Twaki) located on river banks are exposed to the highest level of flood risk and invariably, the devastating impact of flood in Kogi State. Most communities in Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu and Yaba West LGAs are less likely to be affected by Niger-Benue River flooding. It is therefore recommended that communities within the highly vulnerable zones, beginning with the 9 located on river banks should be relocated to higher terrains. Also, future settlement development should be discouraged in the zone by the collaborative efforts of the State and LGA authorities. Further studies should be conducted around Ijumu LGA in view of identifying the most suitable locations for possible flood shelter/refugee camp development in the study area.
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