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Journal of Environmental Law Advance Access published online on August 24, 2009
Journal of Environmental Law, doi:10.1093/jel/eqp027
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Using Earth Observation Technologies for Better Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement of Environmental Laws

Ray Purdy*

*Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Centre for Law and the Environment, Faculty of Laws, University College London (raymond.purdy{at}ucl.ac.uk). This article contains research conclusions from an AHRC-funded project: ‘Satellite Monitoring as a Legal Compliance Tool in the Environmental Sector’ and an ESRC-funded project: ‘Smart Enforcement in Environmental Legal Systems: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Regulatory Satellite Monitoring in Australia’.


  Abstract

Weaknesses in conventional mechanisms of implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, coupled with pressures to develop smarter and more resource-efficient regulatory approaches, suggest that there are real opportunities for the greater use of earth observation (EO) technologies as a regulatory compliance tool in environmental law. Technological improvements in the capabilities of satellites and associated EO technologies mean these could become increasingly relevant for those working in the environmental law sector. New high-resolution satellites can now produce pictures of near photographic quality and what we can observe from space is changing dramatically. Using these new technologies for observing and providing evidence of environmental compliance could provide significant opportunities in monitoring and enforcing some types of legislation. This article considers the relevance of these dramatic step-changes in EO technologies to contemporary challenges of effective environmental law enforcement.

Key Words: technology • satellites • monitoring • enforcement • compliance • evidence


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