Given the indication function of vegetation to climate change in many ways, quantification of vegetation coverage change and its coupling relationship with climate change has become the central topic in current global change and terrestrial ecosystem researches. In the present study, GIMMS (Glaobal Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies)-NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and meteorological data during 1982-2015 were used to investigate the spatiotemporal change of vegetation coverage and its relationship with climate change and human activities in Yangtze River Basin (YRB) based on trend analysis, mutation analysis, partial correlation analysis and residual analysis. The results showed that: 1) Except for Min and Tuo River Basin, the vegetation coverage in the study area which accounts for 69.77% of the YRB was in rising tendency during 1982-2015, and 45.09% of the rising area it showed a significant increasing trend. 2) Based on the Mann-Kendall mutation analysis, we found that there were mutations of the interannual variation of vegetation coverage in the YRB during 1982-2015, however, there were regional differences of the mutation. 3) The vegetation coverage change was more sensitive to variations of temperature than other influencing factors, which suggests that temperature was the dominant factor affecting the change of vegetation cover in YRB. 4) According to residual analysis, the influence of human activities on vegetation coverage in the YRB is increasingly enhanced. Areas with weakening human activities mainly distributed in the Chin-sha River Basin, Min and Tuo River Basin, Hanshui River Basin and some provincial capital cities.