From Green to Gray: Economic Ramifications of Vegetation Loss and Pollution In a Growing Urban Landscape

MSU Affiliation

College of Forest Resources; Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Creation Date

2025-11-14

Abstract

Urban expansion and environmental degradation in arid regions pose significant challenges for sustainable development and public health. This study presents a comprehensive spatiotemporal analysis of air quality, vegetation dynamics, and land surface temperature (LST) patterns in Quetta district, Balochistan, Pakistan, using multi-temporal remote sensing data from 2016 to 2023. We employed Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS and Sentinel-5P TROPOMI datasets to extract key environmental indicators, including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), LST, and atmospheric pollutants (CO, NO2, SO2). Land use/land cover (LULC) classification revealed distinct spatial patterns with built-up areas concentrated in the central region, while bare ground dominated the landscape across all study years. Correlation analysis demonstrated strong positive relationships between vegetation indices (NDVI-EVI: r = 0.88–0.92) and negative correlations between vegetation and temperature (NDVI-LST: r = −0.61 to −0.73). Air pollutant concentrations showed temporal variations, with NO2 exhibiting the highest spatial variability, particularly in urban areas. The study reveals critical environmental trends in this water-stressed region, providing valuable insights for urban planning, environmental management, and climate adaptation strategies in arid landscapes.

Publication Date

10-22-2025

Publication Title

Advances in Space Research

Publisher

Elsevier

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.10.067