Kochi is undergoing drastic environmental changes with the developmental activities. Kochi metro rail project is one among them. The present study focuses on the decrease in carbon sequestration capacity due to clearing of vegetation, especially trees and paddy fields for metro rail. Metro rail corridor extends to a length of 18.22 km with 16 stations. Total extent of the study area is 777.7 ha covering 200 m buffer zone on both sides of metro corridor. This study integrates analysis of satellite images using GIS along with carbon inventory data from field surveys. IRS P6 LISS IV satellite sensor images of 26th February 2013 and 5th February 2017 are used for the study. Ground-truthing is done for 25 sampling plots. The study showed a total reduction of 35.8 ha of vegetation area which is converted into built-up area. The total carbon content is reduced by 6877 tons in an area of 777.7 ha ie: 8.84t/ha on an average. Maximum reduction has occurred along the metro rail and station zones, where maximum numbers of gown up trees were removed.
Carbon Sequestration, Carbon Content, NDVI, GIS, Ground Truthing, Metro Rail