In a worldwide UNESCO-program "Man and Biosphere (MAB)" the mutual effects of economical activities, land-use and natural resources are under investigation. We are concentrating on high Alpine regions. In the test site MAB-Davos virtually all available data from Climate, Forestry, Game Biology, Landscape History, Soil Science, Vegetation and Human Activities have been assembled into a Geographical Information System (GIS). For a period in 1981 a set of snow cover distribution maps has been derived using Landsat-MSS imagery. The quantitative comparison of the snow cover recession with certain GIS-layers stimulates a better understanding of natural processes and interactions.