The public is getting a clearer view of threats to the world's forests thanks to a powerful combination of satellite imagery, GIS, mapping software, the Internet, and on-the-ground observation. After two years of monitoring, Global Forest Watch (GFW), a Washington, D.C., based initiative of the World Resources Institute, is providing the global picture.

"The good news is that there's still significant areas of natural, intact forest, what we call old growth primary forest remaining today," says GFW Director Dirk Bryant. "The bad news is that these areas are quickly being mined out, logged, converted, and degraded in the interest of making a short-term buck."

GFW has produced forest maps and reports for Chile, Venezuela, Indonesia, Russia, Central Africa, and North America that reveal unsustainable development practices such as inadequate protection, poor management, and illegal logging.

The reports note that while many countries have taken great strides in enacting laws to protect their forests, in many places regulations are simply not enforced. In Indonesia, for example, about 70 percent of its timber production is logged illegally. In Central Africa, Global Forest Watch found that logging concessions already cover more than half of the world's second largest rainforest.

It was also discovered that government policies often favor short-term economic gain instead of long-term stewardship. In Chile, for example, government policies encourage people to clear native forests that are thousands of years old to make way for plantations of exotic species. As a result, the prehistoric araucaria forests and the second oldest living trees in the world, the alerce, are in danger.

These reports were produced using Esri's ArcView 3.2 and ArcGIS 8.1.2 software.

The amount of information gathered by GFW is unprecedented given the difficulties in acquiring data on forests.

"We have a culture of secrecy about how we manage the world's forests," says Bryant. "Basic information such as who owns the logging concession next door to you simply isn't available in many countries of the world. That's where GFW comes in."

GFW's success stems from its international network of 75 partners based in eight key forested countries. University, environmental groups, and nongovernmental organization partners sift through government records and other available data, test its validity out in the field, determine what primary data needs to be collected, and publish the results.

As part of the network, GFW partners and staff benefit from knowledge exchange and training in mapping and methodology formulation. In Canada, for example, a GFW GIS analyst provided training to Canadian partners at a workshop in Edmonton that focused on mapping methods used to map intact forests using Landsat satellite imagery. In Cameroon (see sidebar), GFW GIS Analyst Susan Minnemeyer provided training to local partners in ArcView 3.2 and GPS.

Through the efforts of local groups using advanced technologies, Global Forest Watch addresses the perennial problem of the lack of transparency and easy access to information.

"The key is the power of information," says Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. "What Global Forest Watch does is put communities, people, activists, and wood consumers together and provide them with the information about what is happening to forests."

GFW Board Chairman Bill Ruckelshaus says that Global Forest Watch would not have been possible a few years ago. "It is a reality now because of the growth of local citizen's groups; the Internet and other digital technologies; and the new partnerships being forged by Businesses, governments, and environmental groups."

Global Forest Watch has received support from both environmental groups and industry. Esri, ERDAS, and home furnishings company, IKEA, have given major support to Global Forest Watch.

"Global Forest Watch is a good model of how technology can be used to protect the environment." says Bryant. "Thanks to new technologies, we are better positioned to head off further threats to the world's remaining intact forests."

For more information about Global Forest Watch, contact Isabel Munilla (e-mail: isabelm@wri.org, tel.: 202-729-7711, Web: www.globalforestwatch.org).