Ray Purdy publishes ESRC Report on Satellite Monitoring of Environmental Laws

The study, Smart Enforcement in Environmental Legal Systems: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Regulatory Satellite Monitoring in Australia, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), during 2009 and 2010. The final report was launched on the 9 November 2010.

The report examines whether modern satellite technologies could provide a rigorous, legally reliable, and cost effective tool in inspection and compliance regimes in environmental regulatory systems. It considers these issues in the context of relevant experience and expertise in Australia, which is the only sustained comparative example where satellites have been used to monitor an environmental law. Satellite monitoring is used to monitor compliance with vegetation clearing legislation in Australia. The report seeks to demonstrate lessons learnt from this cutting-edge practice in Australia and to identify how best to build on this experience if satellite monitoring is to be used in new regulatory strategies.

Satellite Monitoring of Environmental Laws. Lessons to be learnt from Australia

Author: Ray Purdy
ISBN: 978-0-9560806-1-5
London: Centre for Law and the Environmental, University College London
November 2010