ASSESSMENT OF REMOTE SENSING ON DEFORESTATION OF ECONOMIC TREE SPECIES IN WUDIL, KANO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

A remote sensing strategy was investigated to evaluate how temperature and rainfall affect the deforestation of economically important tree species in Wudil, Kano Nigeria. The research was carried out in Wudil. To assess the vulnerability of the study area to desertification and the abundance of economic tree species. Landsat satellite products (Landsat 5, 7, 8. were used as the sources of remote sensing imageries. These products were sourced for intervals of ten years, from 1986 to 1999, 2006 to 2016, and 2020. Standardized temperature anomaly and precipitation index from 1986 to 2020 were analyzed using primary and secondary data obtained for information on temperature and rainfall, a hundred questionnaires were used to analyze how much anthropogenic activity has contributed to desertification in the area by looking at their socioeconomic activities, roads, and infrastructural development. To determine the quantity, distribution, growth, and yield of all the species, a transect of one square kilometer was surveyed using regional techniques in each of the four cardinal directions. Principal component analysis revealed that the activity variables and activity observations for 1999, 2006, 2016, and 2016 were all negative, while the years 1986 and 2020 were positive. Increased trends in temperature and decreasing trends in rainfall are evident using the Mann-Kendall analysis, with P-values of 0.0 and 0.003, respectively, which are smaller than the alpha value of 0.05. The main causes of drought and desertification vulnerability according to the findings include variations in the characteristics of rainfall, human activities, and overgrazing. More treeplanting initiatives should be encouraged, ideally making them an annual event in the study region.