Effects of Indiscriminate Solid Waste Disposal And Environmental Issues In Ibadan South West Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria

This study investigates the effect of indiscriminate solid waste disposal and environmental issues associated with the management of solid waste in Ibadan South West Local Government, Nigeria. Primary and Secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were acquired through structured questionnaires administered to a sample of 300 respondents which was randomly selected from the each local government area. The Questionnaire was administered based on the data elicited from the respondents were analyzed through non-parametric method of Chi-square. Three (3) hypotheses were formulated for this study which was all rejected; showing that indiscriminate dump of Solid Waste had significant effects on Environment, Health, people’s attitude and practice. Secondary data were acquired from desk review method; information on environmental issues emanating from poor management of indiscriminate solid waste was obtained from literatures that are relevant to the study. The results of the findings obviously show that several major streets, open spaces, and even water ways are been used as refuse dump sites within the local government. The major environmental issues resulting from improper disposal and poor management of solid waste in Ibadan South West local government are physical nuisance of the waste to the environment. Generally, the study shows that soil, air and water pollution in the study area are caused by both pathogenic and chemical elements from these large amount of solid waste that hit some of the market places, abandoned land/building and major streets. Therefore, this paper recommends that a strong legislation with severe penalty be put in place and there should be a continuous public enlightenment/education on the danger of indiscriminate waste to the general public. It is also recommended that available market be created for these waste that can be recycled. Keywords: Indiscriminate Solid Waste, Non-Parametric, Environmental Issues, Chemical Elements, Harmful, Management, Refuse Dumps

Application of Remote Sensing Techniques and GIS for Forest Reserve Degradation Prediction and Monitoring (1986-2015): A Case Study of Omo Forest Reserve, Ogun State, Nigeria

Remote Sensing Techniques with Geographic Information System can provide dependable information on land use dynamics. This study therefore examines the urban growth effects in Omo Forest Reserve of Ogun State using remote sensing and GIS. Landsat ETM imagery of 1986 and Landsat ETM+ imagery of 2015 was used to identify and classify the assessment of human intervention on Omo Forest Reserve between the study years. A GIS database of the study area and their location within 29years (1986-2015) was generated and analyzed with the aid of GIS analytical functions. These includes: Supervised classification and Spatial Query. The result showed that the intensive rate of human intervention through farming activities in the forest reserve has resulted in the loss of vegetation in the area. It also shows that population growth among communities around the forest imposes a lot of pressure on the forest reserve and the vegetation in the reserve. Forest reserve has suffered seriously and if the present trend of deforestation continues; it is just a matter of time when the whole reserve would have been converted to a bare ground. This research highlights the increasing rate of modification of forest ecosystem by anthropogenic activities and the need to apprehend the situation to ensure sustainable forest management. Keywords: Urban Growth, Supervised Classification, Spatial Query, anthropogenic activities

Heavy Metal Contents in Soil and Plants at Dumpsites: A Case Study of Awotan and Ajakanga Dumpsite Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

This study investigates the heavy metal contents in soils and plants at Awotan and Ajakanga dumpsites in Ibadan with a particular reference to physiochemical and heavy metal levels of the underlying soils, the relationship between the dumpsite soil metal content and the rate of bio-accumulation by plants. A systematic sampling of twelve (12) soils sample (four per site) of twenty meters (20m)  interval and forty eight (48) dominant plants/ vegetable species were collected, uprooted from sample plot from Awotan and Ajakanga dumpsites and Idi-Ose farm land area which serve as control site of 20m. The soil samples were collected at each plot using clean stainless steel shovel at the depth of 0-30cm. The level of heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in soils, plants and vegetables from dumpsites and control site were determined using digestion and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer method (AAS). The transfer factor (Tf) revealed that plants grown on dumpsite soils by accumulated higher metal concentration than their counter part obtained from normal agricultural soil (control site). Generally, the result shows that there was an increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the two dumpsite soils than that of the soils at the control sites. The heavy metal (Fe and Zn) contents in the plants were higher at the two (2) dumpsites than control sites while the concentrations of Pb and Cd in the plants were higher at the dumpsite than control site. The level of heavy metals transfer for site A was in the order: Cu> Cd> As> Fe> Co> Pb> Zn> Ni while for site B was Cd > Cu > Fe > Co > As > Pb > Ni > Zn. Therefore, solid waste dumpsites contained high concentrations of heavy metals which are later absorbed and accumulated by the plants growing within such sites. Keywords: Physiochemical, heavy metal level, Transfer factor and concentration