Deforestation in Uyo Urban Area: A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach

Abstract

This study measured and analyzed deforestation in Uyo and examined the possible effects of the deforestation on the Environment. When and where have forest lands changed in Uyo from 1969 -2004? Aerial photographs taken from 1969 -2001 which use was complemented with the Quick bird satellite imagery for 2004 were applied. The objectives of this study were to: interpret and digitize remote sensing data for Uyo for the periods 1969, 1978, 1988, 2001 and 2004; evaluate the deforestation changes that had taken place in Uyo over the periods of the study and to assess the effect of deforestation on the Uyo environment. Along the remote sensing technology, the geographical information system (GIS) technology was applied to carry out this research. Field studies were also carried out to arrive at appropriate results. Forestlands continually dropped in land area during the period while industrial lands, institutional, residential and transportation lands recorded increases in land areas. Reclassifying the land uses into built-up and forest lands revealed that the built-up lands constantly rose while the forest lands kept dropping.