Remote Sensing and GIS Application to Erosion Risk Mapping in Lagos

Increased population, unhealthy agricultural practices, indiscriminate land clearing and illegal structures have led to an increase of erosion in Nigeria and Lagos State in particular. This research focused on identifying land use/land cover changes in Eti-Osa LGA of Lagos State and estimating the actual erosion risk using Remote Sensing and Geography Information System. In addition, this research evaluated the perception of communities within the study area with the view to understanding the risk involved in erosion. Maximum Likelihood Algorithm was the classification method applied on the Landsat imageries (1986-2016) to identify the changes on the land use/land cover types. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate the perception of communities within the study area and Revised Universal Soil Loss equation (RUSLE) model was used to estimate the actual erosion risk. The result showed that the sediment yield of the study area was estimated to be between 0 to 48ton/ha/yr. The estimated soil losses were higher in Eti-Osa West compared to other parts of Iru/Victoria Island, and Ikoyi/Obalende areas which recorded low losses. Land uses mostly affected by very high and severe erosion are the bare soils and the crop lands having about 3% to 4% respectively. It can be concluded that rainfall, lack of cover for the surface soil were the major causes of soil loss in the study area.