Journal of Geography and Regional Planning Vol. 2(11), pp. 283-290, November, 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JGRP ISSN 2070-1845 © 2009 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Land use changes and forest reserve management in a changing environment: South-western Nigeria experience O. O. I Orimoogunje*, O. Ekanade and F. A. Adesina Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Accepted 7 September, 2009 This paper investigates how human activities have influenced and altered land cover. It also indicates that the nature of cultural substitution of the indigenous forest species have significance for the functioning of the earth system. It therefore attempts to quantify the ecological implication of land cover change consequent upon land use. The paper integrated a topographical map of 1969 and satellite imageries from Landsat MSS 1972, and Landsat TM 1991 and 2000 with ground truthing and socio-economic surveys to assess changes in forest resource use and land cover in south-western Nigeria. The study argues that land cover modification and conversion is directly related to loss of biodiversity and has negative effect on the ecological setting and that there is need to develop more environmentally and socially equitable approaches to forest management. Key words: Land covers, land use, human-induced, sustainable management, changing environment. INTRODUCTION Forests perform a broad range of environmental functions, including ground water recharging. It provides habitats for plants and animals which generate economic, aesthetic, industrial and religious benefits to man. However, economic development pressures often lead to the conversion of forest ecosystem without consideration for both the long-term economic costs and the impli- cations of the immediate loss of biodiversity, ecosystem structure and function. (WRI, 1987; Williams, 1990). Presently, Nigeria’s rainforests harbour about 4,000 different species of plants, including those with medicinal values (Gbile et al., 1981). There are also animals, including birds that cannot be found elsewhere, except Nigeria. These include the Ibadan Malimbe, the Anambra waxbill, the Jos indigo bird, the white-throated monkey, the Niger Delta pigmy hippo and the Niger Delta colobus monkey (Orimoogunje, 2000). Forests are valuable and important to the livelihood systems of rural communities built around them. Loss of ecosystem structures has far- *Corresponding author. E-mail: orimoogunje2@yahoo.com. Tel: +234 803 585 5946. reaching adverse consequences for these communities. At the present, the tropical rainforest is under attack, both from within and from without. This is due to socio- economic development in every sphere and the need of meeting the ever - increasing demands for forest products as population increases (the two parts of the sentence mean the same thing). For instance between 1981 and 1994, Nigeria lost 3.7 million ha of its forests (Orimoogunje, 2000). At the present, less than 4% of Nigeria’s untouched rainforest cover is left (Nwoboshi, 1986; Orimoogunje, 2005). More frightening is the fact that the loss is continuing at the rate of more than 3.5% annually (Orimoogunje, 2005). This implies a colossal loss of biodiversity. The greatest threats to forests in Nigeria have been bush burning and illegal logging, which have been rife in the study area (see section for study area) over the years. The degradation process in the forest area of Nigeria has been found to be significant in terms of the disappearance of the three crowns layers of trees characteristic of the region (Ekanade, 1991; Salami et al., 1999).). The focus of this paper is, there- fore, to investigate how human activities have influenced and altered tree cover; and to suggest the need for conservation and sustainable management of forest