Application of Vegetation Indices for Forest Degradation Using Landsat TM Data

This paper demonstrates that it is feasible to evaluate forest degradation and to detect deforestation in the 8156$km^2$ study area affected by expand farming using vegetation indices derived from Landsat TM data. The NDVI-growing stock relation was applied on th Landsat TM data and a 3 second grid DEM, whose coverages could improve the assessment of forest degradation and also estimate the rate of change of forest cover area depending on elevation intervals. The strength of the relationship between the ratio of the greenness and brightness indices and forest degradation conditions would have been more interesting in the deforested areas which were converted to crop farming land.