An evaluation of the change in land use/land cover and terrain characteristics of Ala River catchment, Akure, Nigeria.

This study evaluates land use change within the upper catchment area of Ala river, Akure, Ondo State over a period 31 years (1986-2017) using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) 5 1986, Enhanced Plus (ETM+) 7 2002, and 8 OLI / TIRS 2017. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), surface runoff terrain configuration were analysed ArcGIS 10.5 software. Three types identified namely; built up, bareland/outcrop. up covered 29.39 % in 1986 increased to 43.64% Vegetation revealed reverse trend with continuous decline from 49.21% 14.16% 2017 while bareland/outcrop 19.60% 42.20% NDVI values range between -0.03 0.4; -0.3 0.3; 0.04 0.3 2017, respectively as an indicator degradation. analysis showed that has been considerably degraded, mainly due depletion uncontrolled urbanization process. It is therefore recommended government through its physical planning agency, put place effective control mechanism guide development will enhance sustainable other parts town.