A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CARBON EMISSIONS IN THE ECOLOGICAL ZONES OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Carbon dioxide concentrations have risen in recent years. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide which has been linked to the onset of the industrial revolution has been largely responsible for the observed changes in the climate worldwide. This study examined the spatial emission of carbon from the different ecological zones in Nigeria and the relationship with vegetation health. Monthly data (January-December) of Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and carbon data set of 500 m spatial resolution between year 2000 and 2012 for Nigeria were utilized for the study. The images were extracted from the archives of the National Earth Observatory. Zonal statistics of ArcGIS 10.1 software was employed to extract data of carbon emission and NDVI. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between carbon emission and NDVI. The results showed that carbon emission ranged between 13.87 ppm and 256.89 ppm with the highest found in the fresh water swamp (142.15±60.00 ppm) and the least in sudan savanna (108.07±29.7 ppm). The forest zones had NDVI ranging between 0.35-0.80 while savanna zone recorded between 0.16 and 0.59. Results further showed that carbon emission contributes to NDVI depletion. (r=-0.48, p<0.05). Overall, there appear to be decline in vegetation health in Nigeria while the emission of carbon gradually increased during the study period. This study provides an opportunity to identify carbon sources so that adequate provision can be made for effective mitigation strategies to forestall the adverse impacts of climate change in a developing country.

Keywords

• Carbon emission
• Vegetation
• ecological zone
• Nigeria
• Normalized Difference Vegetation Index