Abstract:
Vegetation cover has acted as a source of carbon sinks and air purifier for a long period of time
especially in developed cities thereby affecting the global climate change. The study was
conducted to spatially estimate the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) which is a
vegetation indicator for a period of 28 epoch years for Abuja from 1987 to 2014. The positive
signatures of NDVI decrease from 2009 to 2014. Statistical analysis of the observed data
samples at 95% confidence interval revealed that the changes observed in Year 2009 contributed
most to the changes that was occurred in Year 2014.The modeled NDVI values for the year 2014
based on the regression analysis of the previous three years shows a significant agreement
between the simulated values for year 2014 and the observed values. In general, there has been
fast transformation of the vegetation cover to other land uses. The study reveals vegetation cover
had reduced more significantly. It is also worthy to know that the model generated in this
research can be used to predict future changes and trends in the vegetation cover. This will
provide policy makers with useful information for the proper planning and design of the city and
other capital cities over West Africa. |
