Kaingaroa State Forest, New Zealand

Commercial forest ‘stands’ show in this false colour image of New Zealand, as deep red rectangular areas. Cleared ground, with access tracks, show amongst them in blue. In the east of the image is the protected Kaingaroa State Forest, dissected by numerous steep sided gorges. Note the less uniform texture of the natural forest. In the north is a large area of cleared land vulnerable to considerable erosion. In managed forestry, a GIS can combine elevation and rainfall data to predict areas which could be prone to erosion, together with data on forest type and maturity, a GIS can help plan and time forestry activity so as to minimise such environmental damage.

Rondonia, south-east Brazil

Approximately 30% (3,562,800 sq km) of the world's tropical forests are in Brazil. The estimated average deforestation rate from 1978 to 1988 was 15,000 sq km per year. Systematic cutting of the forest vegetation starts along roads and then fans out to create the "feather" or "fishbone" pattern shown in this 1986 image of Rondonia, south west Brazil. The deforested land and urban areas appear in light blue; healthy forest vegetation appears red. Notice the smoke rising from areas actually in the process of being cleared.