268 
For the next generation predictions have been 
made that the world’s population will double 
soon. This requires again a doubling of 
agricultural production and the management 
of water resources. 
In order to plan for this the monitoring of the 
world’s environment is mandatory, which 
extends to 
■ forest depletion 
■ crop yields 
■ waste land surveys 
■ dump locations 
■ drought areas 
■ flood areas 
■ sedimentation 
■ soil erosion and desertification 
■ the growth of urban areas. 
These goals were clearly expressed at the Rio 
UNCED Conference in 1992. 
Of particular significance is urban growth, 
which was of concern to the Habitat II 
Conference in Istanbul in 1996. Again urban 
growth is a prime factor in the developing 
continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America, 
where this growth occurs at uncontrolled 
conditions generating slums, poverty, disease 
and crime. In some major centers the annual 
growth of population is over 5 %. 
There are thus global priorities 
■ to relieve environmental pressures 
■ to regulate population pressures 
■ to enable sustainable development 
■ to resolve global, regional and local 
planning issues. 
Many of these factors are interrelated. Here a 
few illustrations of the issues: 
■ forest depletion 
■ global warming 
■ the maintenance of biodiversity 
■ the protection of arable land 
■ the fight against desertification 
■ the combat against natural disasters. 
In a 6 year period the deforestation of the 
Amazon region has increased by 20 % 
affecting a total area larger than Germany. 
Monitoring programs using satellite data were 
able to localize the areas of concern. Similar 
global surveys based on satellite data were able 
to localize areas of soil degradation. 
Environmental changes affect the composition of 
the atmosphere. A steep CCL increase has been 
noted in the last decades, resulting in a rise in 
temperature over the globe. That this global 
warming is not without economic effort is shown 
when modelling the coffee production areas of 
Uganda now, and if the temperature would rise 
by 2°. 
The earth system involving the parameters of 
ocean, atmosphere, and land is a complex 
scientific issue to be resolved by research issues, 
which are not solvable without global satellite 
observation. 
As far as regional and local issues are concerned 
these relate more closely to the traditional 
mapping issues solved sofar by photogrammetry 
and photographic interpretation. 
3. What can be achieved sofar 
Traditional mapping is at the core of information 
gathering for protection of the environment and 
for sustainable development when regional and 
local issues are concerned. 
Base mapping in form of a base GIS serves as 
the foundation to integrated thematic data from a 
variety of sources, especially from thematic 
satellites. 
Considering the present status of world mapping 
at scale ranges from 1:25 000 to 1:200 000 we 
find that a global coverage of 1:200 000 in 
digital form is nearing completion through the 
efforts of NIMA in the U.S. At the 1:50 000 
scale required for national development analog 
records are available for 2/3 of the land areas, 
and at the 1:25 000 scale for 1/3 of the land 
areas, but a huge homogenization effort in 
geometry and classification is still required for 
global digital use. 
Here again the developing continents of Latin 
America and Africa lag far behind. 
What is even more alarming is the update rate of 
these maps. On a world average the 1:25 000 
map is 20 years old, and the 1:50 000 map, 
where available is nearly 50 years old. This 
gives a clear evidence that traditional aerial