Land use Pattern in Coastal Areas of Lagos State: Issues and Challenges

Introduction

Coastal areas are highly dynamic and undergoing rapid change [1]. Globally, urban sprawl is one of the key drivers of unsustainable development [2]. Natural hazards and extreme weather patterns impose risks on coastal areas that inland areas seldom encounter [3]. North Africa’s increasingly populous cities face tangible risks today, but these will be amplified as the impacts of global climate change further manifest themselves over the decades to come [4]. In the 1960s and 70s, after the colonial rule, new bureaucracies, infrastructure, and companies employed coastal urban centres [5]. This led to rapid immigration to urban areas in coastal areas of Anglophone Africa.

This makes it attractive because of the diverse opportunities available, improved social care and/or escape from armed conflicts and non-dependency on agriculture and diversify household income [6]. Africa’s coastal cities have long benefited from their ready access to commerce and culture, also face distinct vulnerabilities due to their location [7]. The coastal zones in West Africa were fast-growing, for examples during the colonial era’s commercial activities channel strategically along the sea coast [8]. Its negative impacts are particularly visible and crucial in the settlement of developing countries cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, where unplanned land-use change obstructs sustainable management efforts.

In most developing economies, sustainability challenges emanating from the sprawling expansion of cities are synonymous with informal land use and tenure. Disorderly subdivision layout patterns, lack of public infrastructure and services, poverty, informal livelihood, increased social and economic costs, environmental degradation, loss of agricultural land and diminution of natural resources like forest and high-biodiversity wetlands are also obvious problems [9, 10]. Several studies on the growth of the Lagos Megacity documented the general consequences of spatial expansion and peri-urbanization. This reflects in the challenges and incompetence of physical planning at a megacity scale and the dominance of unsustainable land use planning decisions [9].

The notion of Land-use change has been central to the sustainability debate because it a main driving force of global environmental change and it affects the earth systems as seen in the literature [9]. The Impacts of land use/land cover change are felt from global to local scales; there is worldwide biodiversity loss, global deforestation, global climate change via carbon circle, soil degradation and the ability of the biological systems to support human needs [3, 11, 12, 6, 2]. The sea‐level changes will likely continue for centuries even if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions concentrations were to be stabilized owing to the time scales associated with climate processes and feedbacks [13]. In Lagos megacities, being the prominent manufacturing and port city in West Africa.

Lagos is the heart of the business and economic development in Nigeria, accommodating about 65 per cent of the country’s industrial establishments, more than 65 per cent of all commercial activities and around 60 per cent of Nigeria’s non-oil economy; it is also home to four of the country’s eight seaports [14]. The study also, affirmed that Lagos has been categorized as one of 50 cities most exposed to extreme sea levels, and is projected to experience a more than 800 per cent increase in population exposure by the 2070s. All this, coupled with other factors, lead to altered landscape patterns of urban areas due to substantial growth experienced by these areas over the years. The change in the landscape pattern is substantially caused by natural and human factors, through human activities such as population increase, urban sprawl, and agriculture which can affect the ecosystem and alter the relationships between people and their natural environment [15].

The expansion of urban areas and continued sprawl is negatively affecting developing countries, the residential and industrial intrusions of growing urban areas lead to a constant decrease of high-quality agricultural land and forests in the marginal areas of cities and rural areas. This higher population pressure in Lagos has led to extreme pressure on natural resources [7]. For example, in the past four decades, urban expansion in Lagos triggered deforestation processes. Land use planning is key to meeting increasing demands for human needs and at the same time maintaining the natural environment. Land use denotes the uses of land for different purposes, which includes wildlife habitat, forest-agriculture, industrial, tourism, and settlement etc [16]. It is important in planning and management activities concerned with the surface of the earth [6].

The trend of land uses in coastal areas of Lagos is remarkable over the last half-century [17]. However, much still need remains to be done in implementing the new urban Agenda (2030); Coastal Zone Policy (2005) and the establishment of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)- coordination, demarcation of land zoning, mangrove afforestation through community participation, better preparedness against disaster and the introduction of modern land management systems [3, 18]. In light of this, the study intends to understand the pattern, trends and their consequences of land-use pattern in the study area [19]. In light of the above, this paper examines the land use pattern in coastal areas of Lagos State.

Methods and Materials

This study was conducted using a mixture of primary and secondary data. The primary data was source through the use of a questionnaire which was systematically administered in a selected area within Lagos megacities (peri-urban areas). The secondary data were source from scholarly published works. The results of the data were analyzed and presented in a table.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Based on the finding of this study, it was observed that the study area is undergoing series of transformation in the pattern of land use due to informal urban expansion with small settlement units, historical development, strategic- geographical location and related economic priorities has led to a different speed and pattern of urban development in the study area. For example in the Lekki axis is faster than other parts of the state area, which is with high confidence due to its economic vibrancy and markets. The expansion of scattered large settlement units in the study area was due to economic advantage. Population growth remains an important driver of urban development with high confidence in both areas [24].

Based on the above, the following are recommended:

• Future land-use plans must be framed by firm wetland conservation strategies that discourage the disturbance of swamp habitat. Additional research must be performed to forecast the health and life expectancy of the Lagos wetlands.
• Future land use plans must take into account potential impacts on the transportation of natural resources as well as foreign trade products. sound, practical waste management regulations would decrease the rate and severity of waterway pollution, as well as the risk of exposure to toxic chemicals in drinking water and stormwater drainage.
• Smart growth would prove economically beneficial to the food market, tourism, resource consumption, and wealth diversity/equity.
• Mixed-income housing in urban areas would strive to improve city-wide quality of life.
• The implementation of equal-access housing markets, educational resources, and employment services would decrease the occupancy of low-income, informal living standards that currently have negative impacts on water quality, public health, and biodiversity.