International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work (2581-5997)/ Volume 5/Issue 8/August 2022 1 © 2022, IJASRW, All right reserve https://www.ijasrw.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Spatio-Temporal Overview of Vegetation Cover Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index – A Case Study of Nagaon District of Assam Rimlee Bora Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Gauhati University, Assam Email id: borarimlee@gmail.com DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7038437 Abstract Plants are critical to the survival of living populations and provide important sources of income for millions of people worldwide. Aside from providing a source of income for millions more, it is estimated that 410 million people rely heavily on forests for subsistence and employment, with 1.6 billion people relying on forests for a living (Munang, Thiaw, Thompson, Ganz, & Girvetz, 2011). However, deforestation and forest destruction (D&D) are wreaking havoc on the environment, resulting in a significant decrease in the provision of valuable ecosystem goods and services from forests. The assessment of vegetation cover is required in this context. As a result, Nagaon District is concerned about evaluating vegetation cover throughout the study period (1992- 2022). Various Landsat images of three different years are collected from the US Geological Survey website. As a result, the Vegetation Map is created in ArcGIS using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). NDVI indices are used to assess the amount of vegetation in a given area. According to the study, the rate of decrease of dense vegetation has been identified during this period (1992-2022). Similarly, due to increased population pressure on land, the area under construction has gradually increased over the last 30 years 1992-2022). As a result, proper forest management and land utilization policies are required for the study area's long-term management. Keywords: Deforestation, Landsat, ArcGIS, NDVI, Management, Utilization Introduction The forest and vegetation of a specific ecosystem are generally influenced by external factors, particularly man-made development activities (Bhat and Khanal, 2010). Forests provide a sustainable alternative to rural livelihoods and socioeconomic development goods and services such as food, wood, and water, as well as global ecological and economic services such as nutrient cycling, biological diversity, carbon processing, and climate change mitigation (Duguma, 2019). However, deforestation and forest destruction (D&D) are wreaking havoc on the environment, resulting in a significant decrease in the provision of valuable ecosystem goods and services from forests in developing countries. Efforts to save trees, on the other hand, have received widespread international attention. Forest conservation is emphasized as part of achieving sustainable development in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These initiatives have been strengthened by new global development policies such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi targets. Trees help to combat global warming by absorbing CO2, extracting and storing carbon, and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. They reduce wind speeds and cool the air by losing moisture and reflecting heat upwards from their leaves. Trees are thought to be capable of lowering a city's temperature by up to 7°C. Trees promote health and social well-being by removing toxins from the environment and lowering carbon emissions. Trees help to maintain a balanced economy and can provide a variety of services to those in need. Even as cities become hotter, trees can help to cool them down. They provide both habitat and food for animals. Finally, trees play an important role in groundwater recharge.