GIS for sustainable living in the riverine communities in edu local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of information in contemporary time is an issue that cannot be handled with levity. It implies thatinformation has become power that pivot and propel the wheels of development. In this vein, this pilot studyattempts to provide adequate information for sustainable development of riverine communities of Edu LocalGovernment Area of Kwara state, Nigeria. Edu Local Government area was divided into three pragmatic zonesbased on the administrative districts. In each of the districts, Geographical Information System analytical tool wasused to harvest and treat the data for subsequent interpretation. The coordinates of various locations of interest werecaptured, contour and slope maps of the area were generated to finally produce risk map for the area. The resultsrevealed three distinct risk zones; High, Moderate and low-risk areas. Three settlements fall into low-risk areas withelevations above 196m, two settlements located at between 110m and196m are within moderate risk zone and sixsettlements in High-risk area with elevations below 110m. This study concludes that the riverine communities inEdu LGA are prone to flood risk. The study recommends public enlightenment on how man interacts with theenvironment and the implications, the trend in climate and weather in relation to flood and its consequences;environmental education and Stakeholder’s forum should be organized as avenue for disseminating and educatingthe people for better and sustainable living in their various communities.Keywords: community, flood, information, living, risk, riverine