An assessment of the state of forest reserves in Southwestern Nigeria

Authors

  • R.O. Oyinloye Regional Centre for Training in Aerospace Surveys, OAU Campus, Ile-Ife
  • F.A. Adesina Department of Geography , Obafemi Awolowo Univerisity,Ile Ife
  • A.T. Salami Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies, OAU, Ile-Ife

Keywords:

Deforestation, Forest reserve, Monitoring, Remote sensing, Tropical forest, Vegetation map

Abstract

It is a common knowledge that deforestation and land degradation have far reaching effects on the sustainability of natural resources and on the world’s climate as well as the current unstable weather conditions being witnessed every year. The ability of the country to withstand the impacts of future climate change will likely be compromised if the forests and forest reserves continue to be degraded and eventually destroyed. The other phenomenon of southward movement of desertification, among other phenomena, is also worth being considered. This paper has carried out an assessment of the state of forest reserves in southwestern Nigeria over a period of three decades with a view to determining the rate of deforestation and demonstrating the crucial role of geoinformation production in forest reserve management. The techniques of Geoinformatics have been employed. The results of the study showed that the average annual rate of deforestation in southwestern Nigeria was 2.55% while the analyses showed that the forest reserves were on the verge of disappearing.

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Published

2010-06-01

How to Cite

Oyinloye, R., Adesina, F., & Salami, A. (2010). An assessment of the state of forest reserves in Southwestern Nigeria. Ife Research Publications in Geography, 9(1), 155–175. Retrieved from https://irpg.oauife.edu.ng/index.php/irpg/article/view/10