Current Research on Geography, Earth Science and Environment Vol. 4

GeoAI-enabled Transformation of Urban Environmental Aesthetics in Nigerian Cities: Challenges, Opportunities, and Implementation Strategies

2025-11-29T10:57:09+00:00

Urban aesthetics encompasses the visual and spatial quality of a city, significantly affecting residents' well-being and economic growth. Theories of urban design emphasise the importance of spatial organisation, green spaces, and architectural coherence in fostering aesthetically appealing cities. Nigeria’s economic diversification hinges on transforming its urban centres into aesthetically vibrant, sustainable hubs, moving beyond reliance on crude oil. Geospatial technology has been shown to be affordable and efficient in understanding the varying forms of cities, their continuous expansion, and the processes responsible for their growth pattern. Cities like Lagos, once celebrated for their cultural and architectural heritage, now grapple with aesthetic decline driven by rapid urbanisation, inadequate planning, environmental degradation, and socio-economic disparities.

This study critically examines the challenges undermining urban environmental quality in Nigeria, focusing on hotspot cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Kano, among others, as a case study, and identifies gaps in knowledge, infrastructure, and institutional support that exacerbate these issues. Key obstacles include limited geospatial data, high costs of GeoAI adoption, technical expertise deficits, and socio-cultural resistance to technology-driven urban interventions.

Employing a multidisciplinary approach, such as a systematic literature review, the study proposes novel contributions to innovative solutions, integrating sustainable urban planning, inclusive governance, public participation, and advanced geospatial technologies to restore and enhance urban beauty. The systematic literature review involves an extensive examination of 80 published academic sources, policy documents, and case studies relevant to urban aesthetics, GeoAI, governance, and sustainable city planning.

The study highlights the role of GeoAI in enabling precise urban design, green space optimisation, and infrastructure monitoring, drawing on best practices from cities like Singapore and Kigali that have successfully revitalised their urban aesthetics.

Advanced GeoAI technologies— encompassing satellite imagery, predictive analytics, and real-time urban monitoring—offer transformative potential to redeem the environmental aesthetics of Nigerian cities, fostering tourism, employment, and foreign exchange. However, incomplete data remains a critical barrier, undermining the reliability of spatial predictive models and their applications in urban planning and social sensing. Challenges such as missing features, sparse observations, temporal snapshot limitations, and mismatched spatial scales hinder GeoAI’s ability to capture the complex interplay of human–environment interactions in cities like Lagos.

This study argues that successful implementation in Nigeria demands robust policy frameworks, capacity building, and equitable technology access to bridge systemic inequalities. Through addressing these challenges, this study provides a new roadmap for policymakers, city planners, and stakeholders to leverage GeoAI for urban renewal, ensuring Nigerian cities reclaim their aesthetic allure while fostering economic and environmental resilience. This study's recommendations underscore that structuring Nigeria’s urban environmental aesthetics requires not only technological innovation but also a commitment to social equity and community-driven urban transformation.

Gasification of Raw, Roasted and Carbonized Cashew Shells in a Fixed-Bed Co-current Gasifier

2025-11-29T11:00:37+00:00

The utilization of agricultural residues for power generation is an opportunity to reduce fossil fuel usage and foster a sustainable circular economy. The gasification of agricultural residues in some localities in Burkina Faso has made it possible to access electricity. However, the majority of gasifiers in operation in Burkina Faso are shut down, for technical reasons and because of the lack of mastery of the technology. The utilization of agricultural residues for power generation is an opportunity to reduce fossil fuel use and foster a promotion of renewable energy. The present study focuses on the improvement of gas quality by gasification of raw and cashew shells, heat treatment by roasting and carbonization. The gasifier is a fixed-bed, co-current batch mode, with a throat. It has a thermal power of around 30 kW. It meets the need for low electrical power of the order of 10kWe. It has a double wall with a height of 153 cm and a diameter of 50 cm, and a double air injection. Improving the quality of the gas, consisting of reducing the balsam content contained in the raw shells. As well as the improvement of the physico-chemical characteristics of the shells. And this is done through the roasting and carbonization process. The tests carried out aim to evaluate the energy performance of the gasifier and analyse the gas composition resulting from the gasification of raw, roasted and carbonized cashew shells. Four Types K thermocouples, with a measuring range of -50°C to 400°C and class 2 accuracy in accordance. The parameters studied are the energy efficiency of the gasifier and the energy capacity of the gas. Four type K thermocouples, with a measuring range of −50˚C to +400˚C and class 2 accuracy in accordance with standard EN 60584-2, are connected to a data logger to monitor the temperature inside the reactor. The study showed that the energy yields of the gasifier by gasification of raw, roasted and carbonized hulls are respectively 47.5, 28.32 and 31.48%. The specific production rate of the gas is 28.3, 132.76 and 155.32 kg/m².h respectively for raw, roasted and charred hulls. The gasification times of raw, roasted and charred bulls are 224.33 respectively 201 and 211 minutes. The composition of syngas shows that the gas produced from cashew shells is low in energy. Indeed, the LHV of gas from the raw, roasted and carbonized hulls are 3.1, respectively; 2.1 and 2.87 MJ/N.m³. The study of the gasification of raw and heat-treated hulls shows that the quality of the gas is improved, as is the energy performance of hull gasification. However, the Lower Heating Value of the gas from pre-treated hulls is not improved by torrefaction and carbonization of the hulls. The study concluded that gasifying cashew nut shells—especially those discarded by processing units—can be valuable for heat and electricity production.

Urban Development Dynamics and Flood Risk Assessment in Gombe Metropolis, Nigeria

2025-11-29T11:05:03+00:00

The worldwide population is fast urbanising, with towns undergoing extraordinary growth. Gombe Metropolis, one of Nigeria’s major urban centres, has been meaningly affected by the adverse impacts of persistent annual flooding, leading to prevalent environmental issues and damage to urban societies. Rapid urban development in the city, motivated by the conversion of vegetated areas, open spaces, farmlands, and bare lands into built-up environments, has increased the city’s annual flood risk. Notwithstanding numerous interventions by the government, communities and private efforts to control and mitigate the urban flooding have not been effective. Hence, this study examines the urban development variables contributing to the growing flood risk and frequency in Gombe Metropolis. Data were basically collected through field surveys, including questionnaire administration, and analysed using correlation and regression techniques. Spearman’s Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression models were used to establish statistical relationships between flood risk and independent variables of the urban development, and these include social vulnerability, geographical characteristics, and urban development factors. The findings expose that rapid and unplanned urban development dynamics are the prime drivers of cyclical flooding and the heightened flood risk in Gombe Metropolis. Significant factors prompting flood occurrence include inadequate flood control measures, insufficient and poor drainage systems, failure to obtain building plan approvals, substandard housing structures, and poor solid waste management practices.

Impacts of Land Tenure Access and Use on Agricultural and Non-agricultural Resources in Rural and Peri-urban Areas in South-East Sierra Leone

2025-11-29T11:08:55+00:00

Examining the dynamics of land tenure and agricultural and non-agricultural resources in rural and peri-urban areas remains a grey area in the scientific discourse. To fill this knowledge gap using a case study in south-east Sierra Leone, qualitative data were acquired through key informant interviews and focus group discussions, whilst quantitative data were acquired through administering semi-structured questionnaires to 342 household heads who had resided in the study areas over the past three decades. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 26) was used for data analysis, and logistic regression and chi-square statistics were used to answer some key research questions. The findings revealed that land is mainly acquired by inheritance in rural areas, whilst in peri-urban areas, it is mainly by purchase. Family members can have access to land with the concurrence of the household head. Rice cultivated area is decreasing alongside an increase in cocoa and oil palm cultivated area, and this is attributable to the increase in access to land for cash crop production by native and non-native investors. With changes in land use, households now travel longer distances to access non-agricultural resources. There is a significant relationship between access to land, control over land, and the location of land, with crop production. An increase in access and control over land, and the location of land in a rural area, increases crop production. However, other variables like the size of land and the use of land demonstrated no significant relationship with crop production. Our findings provide insights that would benefit land use planning in an era of increasing population and land demand.

Assessing Community Awareness of Water Infrastructure Encroachment Risks in Makause Informal Settlement, City of Ekurhuleni

2025-12-11T09:21:24+00:00

The management of the bulk water infrastructure is a critical aspect of urban resilience, particularly as cities expand and informal settlements increasingly encroach upon essential services. Encroachment presents significant threats to water supply systems, elevating the risks of infrastructural damage, contamination, and service disruptions. This study examines the risk of informal settlement encroachment on critical water infrastructure in the Makause informal settlement. It aims to identify the key factors influencing encroachment and to develop predictive models that support proactive, community-based infrastructure protection. A mixed quantitative–computational approach was employed, using survey data from 105 residents. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were applied to evaluate differences across categorical responses (“Yes”, “No”, “Unsure”). The ReliefF algorithm was used to rank variable importance in predicting encroachment risk. Key predictors were then used to train, validate, and test an artificial neural network (ANN) model to assess its suitability for risk forecasting. The ANN achieved high predictive accuracy, with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.95 and low mean squared error values across all modelling phases. ANOVA results confirmed statistically significant differences among selected variables. ReliefF identified community awareness, settlement proximity, and resource access as the most influential predictors. Model validation showed strong agreement between predicted and actual outcomes (p > 0.900), confirming robustness and reliability. This study proposes a novel, data-driven framework that integrates machine learning and statistical analysis for infrastructure risk assessment in informal settlements. It demonstrates how community-generated data can be combined with computational techniques to strengthen urban infrastructure management. The framework offers municipalities and water utilities a practical tool for engaging communities, prioritising interventions, and improving protection of critical infrastructure in rapidly urbanising environments. Results are based on a single case study in Makause and may reflect self-reporting bias. A broader application would require additional case studies and expanded datasets.

Challenges to Entrenching a Sustainable Building Regulatory Framework at Rural Communities in Enugu State of Nigeria

2025-12-11T09:24:22+00:00

The implementation of building regulations in rural Nigerian communities is uniquely challenged by socio-economic, cultural, and logistical factors. Effective building standards are critical for reducing risks associated with unsafe construction, as an estimated 40% of structures in rural Nigeria face structural issues or hazards due to non-compliance. This study investigates the barriers to implementing building regulations in Nigeria's rural communities, where such regulations are vital for ensuring structural safety, environmental sustainability, and adherence to planning standards. This research is centred in Enugu State, comprising 17 rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) located in southeastern Nigeria. Using a mixed-method approach involving a structured survey with architects, town planners, and community leaders, as the three critical stakeholder groups. This is a quantitative study. A purposive sampling technique was employed. The census sample size for the survey was 253. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, were used to summarise the data. The study revealed the key challenges that include limited awareness of regulations, inadequate enforcement mechanisms, socio-economic constraints, cultural resistance, and lack of technical and financial resources. The survey findings revealed that 61.2 % of respondents express a high level of awareness of campaigns and training programs for local artisans (53.1%), indicating a positive inclination towards embracing new approaches. Moreover, logistical impediments, such as inadequate infrastructure (48%) and insufficient personnel or transportation (35%), exacerbate these challenges, reflecting the structural hurdles faced by regulatory bodies in rural areas. The findings underscore the need for targeted strategies to enhance regulatory awareness, improve inter-stakeholder cooperation, and address resource shortages. This research proposes actionable recommendations aimed at creating a more adaptive regulatory framework that aligns with rural realities, promoting safer and more sustainable building practices across Nigeria’s rural communities.

Spatial and Seasonal Variation in the Taxonomic Diversity of Soft-Bottom Fish Communities in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Caifornia Sur, Mesxico

2025-12-11T09:27:45+00:00

San Ignacio Lagoon, located in northwestern Baja California Sur, is an important site for commercial fisheries; however, studies specifically addressing the taxonomic diversity of its fish communities remain scarce. To fill this gap, we assessed the diversity of fish associated with soft-bottom habitats across 11 sites from spring 1998 to winter 1999, using alpha, beta, gamma, and taxonomic distinctness indices (Δ* and Δ+). A total of 1,361 specimens representing 44 species and 35 genera were recorded. Seasonal analysis revealed the highest alpha diversity in summer, while beta diversity peaked in spring. Gamma diversity was greatest in spring and summer, with 27 species each. Spatial analysis showed significant differences in Δ+, whereas temporal variation was not significant. These findings highlight the ecological importance of San Ignacio Lagoon and provide baseline data for future monitoring and conservation.

Integrated Assessment on Coastal Flooding Impacts to the Community Vulnerability in Muaragembong, Indonesia

2025-12-11T09:31:12+00:00

Aims: This study investigates the ecological degradation and socioeconomic vulnerability causing household-level economic losses caused by frequent coastal flooding in the Muaragembong District, Bekasi, Indonesia.

Study Design: This study employed a compound method to assess the physical, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts of tidal-induced coastal flooding in Muaragembong District.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Muaragembong District, Bekasi, West Java Province, during the dry season in July 2019.

Methodology: Datasets were collected through onsite observations, interviews, and secondary datasets. Field activities included visual assessments of coastal housing and geomorphology, and structured interviews with 101 respondents drawn from community leaders, fishermen, shrimp farmers, traders, local officials, and fishery housewives. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling from 200 households distributed across three distance zones: ≤100 m (35 households), 100–150 m (31 households), and >150 m (134 households). Secondary data included the 30 m Digital Elevation Model Nasional (DEMNAS) topography, tidal levels derived from eight major tidal constituents from the Tide Model Driver (TMD) model, and demographic statistics from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS-Indonesia). Flood inundation was mapped in ArcGIS by superimposing the high water level on the DEM, excluding eroded areas below 0 m and permanent water bodies. Socioeconomic vulnerability was assessed using the Structural Analysis Method (SAM) and MICMAC analysis which is based on the Indonesian government’s statistical database. Economic losses were estimated from the results of interviews using the Averting Behaviour Method and Human Capital Method.

Results: The results indicate that tidal flooding in Muaragembong affects approximately 2,683 ha of coastal land, primarily aquaculture areas and mangroves. The flooding imposes substantial annual household losses exceeding US$1M (IDR 15 billion), resulting from 38% of respondents with damage to houses and appliances, 43% respondents who need medical treatments, and 35% respondents experiencing income loss. The hazard also accelerates mangrove dieback, pollution accumulation, and saltwater intrusion, further decreasing local resilience.

Conclusion: These findings highlight that the coastal flooding in Muaragembong is not only an environmental issue but also an economic and social crisis. Integrated solutions that combine ecosystem restoration, infrastructure improvements, and community-based adaptation are crucial to reducing future risks and enhancing resilience.

Application of USLE and MUSLE Models for the Prediction of Land Erosion in the Catchment Area of the Delingan Reservoir

2025-12-12T10:54:51+00:00

Tirtomarto reservoir, or locally known as Delingan reservoir, is located in the village of Delingan, Karanganyar District, Karanganyar Regency, Central Java Province in Indonesia. Due to its strategic location, the Delingan reservoir plays an important role in meeting irrigation needs for agricultural land covering an area of 1380 ha every year, but over time the Delingan reservoir is now visible. experienced a decrease in its water capacity and resulting in a decrease in water supply for agricultural land. This is due to the large amount of land erosion that occurs. Soil erosion is often reported as the worst form of land degradation with serious environmental and socio-economic ramifications. This study aims to calculate the value of land erosion that occurs in the catchment area of the Delingan reservoir, which can later be handled so that sedimentation in the reservoir can be overcome and the water supply can be maintained. Prediction of soil erosion in this study using the USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation) and MUSLE (Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation) methods. The formulation of the USLE method allows planning to predict the erosion rate of a particular land with a slope at a certain rain pattern and soil type as well as land management and use for crops or land conservation. The MUSLE method is a modification of the USLE method. The results of this study obtained the value of the erodibility factor of rain (R) from 2015-2019, the soil erodibility factor (K) of 0.04, the length and slope factor (LS) of 1.99, the factor of land cover plants and the factor of conservation measures. (CP) of 0.04. In the USLE method, the erosion value is 7605.89 tons/year. Then the maximum flood discharge value (QP), surface runoff (QQ), and surface runoff (R) can be obtained so that the erosion value using the MUSLE method is 862.88 tons/year. These findings indicate considerable soil erosion within the catchment area, contributing to reservoir sedimentation, using the USLE and MUSLE models. A more disciplined in analysing and reading the data on the available maps is recommended to get appropriate results. Future investigations on land erosion in the Delingan Reservoir catchment area, particularly those employing the USLE and MUSLE methods, should utilise complete datasets and apply the full equations rather than relying solely on map-based estimations.

Comparative Evaluation of Coral Reef Health Assessment Methods: Insights from Indonesian and Mesoamerican Approaches for Indonesian Reefs

2025-12-20T09:19:26+00:00

Coral reefs provide essential benefits, but they are fragile and declining worldwide. Thus, reliable reef health assessments are crucial for guiding conservation efforts in Indonesia, a biodiversity hotspot. This study compares the methods of the Indonesian Reef Health Index (RHI_Indonesia) and the Mesoamerican Reef Health Index (RHI_Mesoamerican) to determine which method is more effective and suitable for Indonesian waters. Both methods were evaluated using data from 159 reef observation sites, focusing on live coral cover (LCC), fleshy algal cover (FAC), and reef fish biomass (RFB), including the herbivorous and carnivorous families. A t-test showed a strongly significant difference (p = 0.001) between the RHI_Indonesia and RHI_Mesoamerican methods. Additionally, multiple linear regression, Residual Sum of Squares (RSS), and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) indicated that the RHI_Mesoamerican method provided a better statistical fit and a stronger ecological response. The qualitative assessment also found that the RHI_Mesoamerican approach is easier to implement and more detailed, enhancing reef fish classification and field efficiency, especially with a few trained UVC experts. It incorporates adaptive management through three reference indicators: the benchmark, the target, and the red flag. In contrast, RHI_Indonesia provides an initial evaluation but lacks management guidance and clear targets, though it supports long-term monitoring, similar to the COREMAP program. This study also highlights the important role of herbivorous reef fish in maintaining the coral–algal balance and improving reef health. Therefore, it is recommended that future Indonesian reef assessments integrate herbivore indicators with benthic parameters to strengthen reef monitoring and conservation.