Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso remain the two major urban centers in Burkina Faso with an increasing trend in human footprint. The research aimed at analyzing the Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) dynamics in the two cities between 2003 and 2021 using intensity analysis, which decomposes LULC changes into interval, category and transition levels. The satellite data used for this research were composed of surface reflectance imagery from Landsat 5, Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 acquired from the Google Earth Engine Data Catalogue. The Random Forest, Support Vector Machine and Gradient Tree Boost algorithms were employed to run supervised image classifications for four selected years including 2003, 2009, 2015 and 2021. The results showed that the landscape is changing in both cities due to rapid urbanization. Ouagadougou experienced more rapid changes than Bobo-Dioulasso, with a maximum annual change intensity of 3.61% recorded between 2015 and 2021 against 2.22% in Bobo-Dioulasso for the period 2009–2015. The transition of change was mainly towards built-up areas, which gain targeted bare and agricultural lands in both cities. This situation has led to a 78.12% increase of built-up surfaces in Ouagadougou, while 42.24% of agricultural land area was lost. However, in Bobo-Dioulasso, the built class has increased far more by 140.67%, and the agricultural land areas experienced a gain of 1.38% compared with the 2003 baseline. The study demonstrates that the human footprint is increasing in both cities making the inhabitants vulnerable to environmental threats such as flooding and the effect of an Urban Heat Island, which is information that could serve as guide for sustainable urban land use planning.

Urbanization and population growth in West Africa have significantly altered land use and land cover (LULC), raising environmental concerns. This study examines urban land use patterns in the District Autonome du Grand Lomé (DAGL) and Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) from 1986 to 2023 and from 1991 to 2023, respectively, using geospatial techniques and the Google Earth Engine (GEE). Previous research has overlooked the complexity of land use patterns and the directional analysis of urban expansion, which are vital for understanding urbanization drivers. This study addresses these gaps by comparing the two metropolitan areas, revealing a dramatic decline in verdant landscapes, with forested areas in DAGL decreasing from 24% in 1986 to 3% by 2023, and from 34% in 1991 to 2% in GAMA. Grasslands also diminished significantly, while built-up areas expanded from 18% to 62% in DAGL and from 10% to 70% in GAMA. The Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII) indicates rapid urban growth, with DAGL at 1.19% and GAMA at 1.88%. Directional analyses reveal that urban expansion predominantly occurs toward the northwest in DAGL and both northeast and northwest in GAMA, highlighting the need for effective urban planning and land management to preserve natural landscapes amidst ongoing urbanization challenges.

Ex situ adaptation in the form of relocation has become inevitable in some low-lying coastal zones where other adaptation strategies become impractical or uneconomical. Although relocation of coastal low-lying communities is anticipated globally, little is still known about the factors that influence household-level adoption. This study draws on an extended version of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to assess the factors influencing the relocation intention of three highly vulnerable coastal rural communities in Ghana. A total of 359 household heads were randomly selected for a questionnaire survey. The study employed binary logistic regression to identify key factors that influence residents’ readiness to relocate. The results indicated that cognitive and compositional factors were more important than contextual factors in explaining the intention to relocate among coastal rural communities in Ghana. However, contextual factors mediated or attenuated the influence of cognitive and compositional factors on relocation intention. Based on the findings, this study advocates for intensive education on the effects of future sea-level rise impacts on communities as well as structural and non-structural measures to improve the socio-economic capacity of rural communities.

The development of road transport in Nigeria dates back to 1910, when the existing bush pathways were converted into motorable highways. When the country witnessed a modernized network of important roads for articulated vehicles and passenger automobiles at the conclusion of the Second World War. Since 1975 and via the third and fourth Development Rolling Plans in Nigeria, the government at all levels has used road construction as a tool of pollution control since it impacts people's socioeconomic lives. As a result, many road construction projects are failing long before the worldwide standard lifespan of 20 to 25 years. This study evaluates the carriageway cambering condition, which is one of the primary fundamental elements influencing highway durability. It determines the carriage water drain and road pounding by vehicular weight transfer along the "A2" trunk route linking Lokoja, Abuja, Kaduna, Zaria, and Kano. According to the study, the gradient of all the portions of the road rehabilitated tends to be zero camber, resulting in the occurrence of visible surface folding, potholes, and pounding ln a defined pattern. It is thus recommended that all major road constructions in Nigeria be subjected to cambering tests prior to project delivery and utilisation in order to reduce the economic waste expended on constant repairs of this and other such roads in a country, which mostly transport its goods and services on roads.

Climate change is the twenty-first-century driver of global epidemic outbreak distribution. An early warning system for effective community preparedness is the antidote if the SDGs will not be a mirage. This study review adopted the search engine secondary method of data collection and descriptive content analysis in conjunction with the other in-depth interview survey reported by recent studies on climate change-induced health challenges and opinion survey on community participation in disease monitoring and control. Proper grassroots dissemination of climate change reality and the attendant intrusion of new diseases that are not amenable to existing medical and tradomedical approaches are imperative, hence the need for contingency planning by all the stakeholders. There is also the need to adopt real-time geospatial analysis techniques and environmental safeguard policy at all levels for disease monitoring and disseminating information to relevant policy makers and implementing agencies.