Detection and evaluation of vegetation change and urbanization in the central China

In this paper, a computerized parametric methodology, developed by FAO, UNEP and UNESCO, was used to assess and evaluate vegetation change and urbanization in the east part of Hubei Province of central China. Landsat TM and ETM+ images in 1988 and 2002 were used for comprehensive views of surface-bound conditions. The NDVI and NDBI indices were employed to extract and classify the land cover and land use types. The field observation data were used to evaluate the accuracy of classification. The resultant images were combined with thematic maps to detect and evaluate vegetation change and urbanization. Results showed that the vegetation cover areas increased in 5 of 20 administrative units in the study period. Evaluation of the status, rate and risk of urbanization showed that the cultivated areas in 7 administrative units were suffering from serious problems of urbanization and the magnitude of increase was more pronounced in smaller towns. It showed a high risk of vegetation cover change and urbanization in the study area.