Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Wetland Ecosystem of Port-Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria

The study analyzed changes in land use and land cover overtime in Port-Harcourt metropolis using remote sensing techniques from 1984-2013.The Geo-referencing properties of 1984, 1999, 2003 and 2013 include; universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, and datum WGS 84, zone 32, ERDAS Imagine (2014).These were used for displaying processing, enhancement, classification of the imageries and also used for the delineation of the study area imagery. IDRIS SELVA was used for the development of land use land cover classes. ArcGIS 10.1was used in developing, display and processing of the location maps. Total percentage change and total rate of change for the entire trend after conversion are thus: Saltwater Wetland 23.44%, to- 2.17, Freshwater Wetland - 26.44%to- 11.49 Fallow land- 47.13%to- 5.41 Built-up Area 43.33% to 7.41Water bodies 43.36% to 3.06.The study recommended that activities shrinking wetlands size should be thoroughly put to check by the government and better efforts should be focused on those activities that inspire wetland conservation.