SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES IN LAND USE/LAND COVER DYNAMICS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PRESSURE AREA OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Land use/land cover (LULC) character constitutes an important component affecting human interactions to live, work and recreate in the physical environment. Examines changes in LULC in the Development Pressure Area (DPA) of Ogun State, Nigeria covering a period of 30 years (1990 to 2020). Geographic Information System was used to identify, classify, analyse, categorise and situate LULC characteristics. Empirical observations revealed changes in the land use/land cover character in the DPA sub-region of Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria. A spatio-temporal analysis of the morphology was a phenomenal (88.04%) expansion of built-up area from 13,354km2 in 1990 to 111.691 km2 in 2020, while forests and agricultural lands declined by 46.5% in same period causing deficit in land resources availability. Built development has usurped other relevant land uses like open spaces, green belts and wet lands around the metropolitan areas of the DPA. Growing population and increasing influence of unplanned developmental processes are the main forces behind the major shift of forests and agricultural lands into physically built-up categories. Effective planning policy should be enacted to checkmate the growth of the area.