Remote Sensing and Land Use Management in Nigeria: a Review

Abstract Land is essential for man’s existence, and its use involves the management and modification of the natural environment into built environments such as recreational, transportation, agricultural, residential, and commercial. The global population increase is exerting more pressure and demand on this limited natural resource. Accompanying man’s need is the grievous depletion of the natural environment and the extent of this depletion and conversion has yet to be fully determined by the application of traditional approaches. Therefore, the focus of this study is on how to apply remote sensing principles to land use and its management in Nigeria. Secondary data, the literature on land use, and remote sensing were adopted in the study. The study revealed that in the South West land use for settlements increased from 107.3ha in 1986 to 210.96 in 2003, while other land uses reduced in sizes – cropland (6021ha to 5,351.10ha). In Abuja, urban/built-up land increased from 36.8km 2 (1987) to 385.4km 2 (2017). The study further revealed that land management, using remote sensing, fosters inventory and management, periodic monitoring, and effective allocation and coordination of land resources. It provides automated techniques for integrating both quantitative and qualitative data in land information management that helps better decision-making processes, efficient policy formulation, and monitoring in land-related problems across local and global scales. The study therefore recommends the integration of remote sensing into land management and policy decision in Nigeria.