Abstract

This paper examines changes in land-use and land-cover pattern in Ilorin Emirate in Nigeria between 1986 and 2006. Landsat images of Ilorin Emirates at three epochs (1986, 2000 and 2006) were used. An administrative map of local governments in Kwara State and a land-use map of Ilorin were used as base maps. Global Mapper Software was used for the image enhancement; image classification was done with environment for visualizing images (ENVI) software and was later exported to the ArcGIS for further processing and analysis. The land consumption rate and land absorption coefficient was determined to aid the quantitative assessment of change. Subsequently, an attempt was made at projecting the observed land-use / land-cover for a period of 14 years ending at 2020. The result of the work shows a gradual growth in built-up land between 1986 and 2000 and this tends to grow more rapidly between 2000 and 2006. It was also observed that the change by 2020 may likely follow the trend observed in 2000 and 2006. It is recommended that the information from the results of this work should be use to optimally and effectively plan and manage the study area.

Key words: Land-use, land-cover, land consumption rate, land absorption coefficient, change detection