In News:

• Recently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) released the first National Highways Green Cover Index (NH-GCI), a scientific framework to assess and monitor vegetation cover along India’s national highways.
• The index has been developed in collaboration with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• The initiative represents a significant step toward environmentally sustainable highway development, enabling data-driven monitoring of plantations and greenery along highway corridors.

About the NH-GCI

• The National Highways Green Cover Index is a satellite-based assessment tool that measures the extent of vegetation along the Right of Way (RoW) of national highways.
• Objective: To provide a scientific and quantitative evaluation of green cover along the national highway network using advanced space-based technologies.
• Coverage:
  • The first assessment covers around 30,000 km of National Highways across 24 states for the period July–December 2024.
  • The index evaluates vegetation present along the left and right sides of highways as well as the median, wherever plantation is feasible.
• Methodology: The NH-GCI uses advanced remote-sensing techniques to estimate vegetation density and distribution.
  • Satellite Data: High-resolution satellite sensors are used to detect chlorophyll content in vegetation.
  • NDVI Analysis: The assessment relies on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from satellite imagery. NDVI measures vegetation health and density based on the reflection of light from plant chlorophyll.
  • Segment-wise Assessment: Analysis is carried out for every 1-km segment of national highways, allowing precise monitoring of green cover across the network.

Through this methodology, the index provides consistent and objective measurements of vegetation along highway corridors.