Abstract

The need for effective planning and disaster prevention is the main reason for real time data generation   provided by Remote Sensing and GIS. Zaria is fast becoming more unplanned due to increase in population and the consequent human influence leading to high rate of land use-land cover change. This study therefore looks into changes in land use-land cover between 1985 and 2005 with a view to providing database for future planning. Landsat, spot and digital globe imageries for 1985, 1995 and 2005 respectively were used for the analysis. The result shows that built-up areas increasedfrom 2.3% in 1985 to 36.4% in 2005, water body decreased from 22.5% in 1985 to 6.5% in 2005 while cultivation decreased from 44% in 1995 to 40% in 2005 sending a bad signal of imminent food crisis if not checked. The process has led to elimination of thecrop, forest and scrub land mostly towards the eastern and southern outer limits of thecity. The growth of built-up areas is mainly towards the east- west route in a linearpattern.

Key words: Land use-Land cover, sustainability, land management, remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS).