There has frequently been talk in the media about the disappearing rainforest in South America and elsewhere. Global Forest Watch has been tracking not only the extent of the rainforest but forests everywhere. The top image at the right shows the original extent of forest cover in the world; the bottom image indicates the world’s current forest cover.

Global Forest Watch provides forest-related data. Their current data extents are somewhat spotty - many of the areas of the world are not at all represented except at the global level). As well, some of the data layers are not fully explained. Data is copyrighted by Global Forest watch but can be used for non-commercial purposes.

There are also a number of interactive maps that use ArcIMS which users can navigate and query. (These do not seem to work with the Firefox browser.)