SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF FOREST COVER CHANGE IN OKOMU FOREST RESERVE, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

Deforestation and other anthropogenic activities, particularly in protected areas and reserves, have had a negative impact on many forest ecosystems and biodiversity. There is also a scarcity of information about the various changes in land cover and other forest resources that have occurred over time in the various ecological zones, especially in Nigeria. This study aimed at assessing and quantifying the spatio-temporal pattern of forest cover dynamics over three decades in Okomu Forest Reserve, one of the few remaining forest protected landscapes in Nigeria. The study used multi-temporal Landsat satellite images from four different periods (1986, 1999, 2011, and 2019) to assess forest landscape change in the study area. To generate forest maps for the various years, the unsupervised Iterative Self Organising Data Analysis algorithm was used. The effectiveness of conservation efforts in the study area from 1986 to 2019 was determined by investigating trends in forest cover change within the reserve and interviewing key informants, which included the staff of Okomu National Park. The results show that dense and moderate forest cover were reduced at annual average rates of 3.87% and 1.56%, respectively. The open and very open forest cover expanded at annual average rates of 7.62% and 1.23%, respectively. The main drivers of forest resource degradation in the area were discovered to be excessive extraction of timber and medicinal plants/trees. These findings imply that the reserve's protection and conservation strategies/efforts were ineffective, as deforestation (and its consequences) are still visible. As a result, the government and environmental non-governmental organizations should prioritize effective and efficient conservation strategies for current and future forest resource use. This will ensure that the biological diversity of the area is preserved indefinitely. Overall, the study demonstrated that forest resources degradation is occurring in Okomu Forest Reserve.