Assessment of Vegetation Cover of Bengaluru City, India, Using Geospatial Techniques

Bengaluru has a unique place due to its pleasant weather and green cover. Off late, the city has witnessed phenomenal urban growth, especially during last few decades. This study was envisaged to assess the decadal changes in vegetation cover of Bengaluru using multispectral IRS satellite imagery of 2006 and 2019 within Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area. Satellite datasets were analysed to assess changes in vegetation cover during the last decade. Vegetation (tree cover) within BBMP area was estimated to be 26.1% (18,572.2 ha) in 2019 as compared to 30.1% (21,414.9 ha) in 2006, indicating an overall reduction of 4%. Overall classification accuracy was estimated to be 92.1% for 2006 and 95.9% for 2019. Based on the analysis, a vegetation change map highlighting positive change areas, negative change areas and no change areas within vegetation categories were prepared for 198 BBMP wards. A total of 730 GT sample points were also collected along with geo-tagged field photographs, which covered diverse niche areas with different vegetation components and density classes, as well as non-vegetated urban and other areas. Recommendations have been given to sustain and improve existing vegetation cover.