Mapping the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities on Vegetation in the Area Councils of FCT using Remote Sensing

Globally, amongst all the factors threatening the existence of landcover in the biosphere, agriculture and urbanization plays the most potent role aside from the natural factor of climate. The study examines the effect of human factors on vegetal cover and identifies the drivers of the changes within the area councils of the FCT over a period of three decades. The need to conserve limited natural resources is threaten by the effect of increased population and their continuous anthropogenic activities on this limited resource, thus the vegetation cover which represents an important natural resource for both humans and other species is lost due to reckless and unsustainable usage. Using geospatial techniques, the magnitude of human activities of development is assessed as it affects vegetation cover. The results of the analysis show a tremendous impact of anthropogenic activities as the landcover continue to deplete from 1987 – 2016. Human impacts were identified as the major driver of vegetal cover change in all area councils as it increases from 11510.89km2 to 85563.01km2 in AMAC, 765.55km2 to 82820.74km2 in Gwagwalada, 1621.73km2 to 54267km2 in Kwali, 1259.49km2 to 4985.56km2 in Abaji, 6621.80km2 to 34295.20km2 in Kuje and 15678.82km2 to 24925.94km2 in Bwari.The study recommends that continuous inventory of human impacts should be carried out to check mate the unsustainable management practices of human induced activities in the study area. It concludes that anthropogenic activities are on the rise thus measures should be taken to mitigate its effects to ensure better environmental sustainability

Periodic Assessment of Trend and Climatic Variability in the LCB

Periodic assessment of trend and climatic variability is important for better planning and water resource management in the LCB catchment. This study assessed the impact of climatic variables on the LCB (LCB) using rainfall data derived from TAMSAT, run off and evapotranspiration data derived from climate engine over a period of twenty years (2001-2020). Non-parametric Mann Kendall (MK) and Spearman rho tests were applied to detect the presence of rainfall trends and trend magnitude was calculated using Sen’s Slope Estimator (SSE). With an average annual rainfall of 523.62mm, trend analysis showed an annual positive trend for precipitation at 5% significance level. Analysis of seasonal rainfall using both tests revealed an increasing trend during the dry season. However, the late dry season experienced a slight increasing trend and for wet seasons. There was 2.7% runoff and 4.6% evapotranspiration which are the lowest for the time series