Big Brother and The Law of the Land: The Role of Satellite Surveillance and GIS in the Regulation of Land Clearance

Land clearance regulations aim to reduce the loss of native vegetation and therefore also reduce land degradation, the enhanced greenhouse effect and threats to biodiversity. An assessment of the success of such laws is long overdue, if the aims of the regulations are to be ultimately achieved. Insufficient monitoring and enforcement are problems frequently encountered in the regulatory field in general, perhaps because of administrative reluctance to interfere with behaviour which is otherwise beneficial (such as clearance for agriculture) and electorally sensitive. Remote sensing is presently employed in the monitoring of land cover change for data collection purposes but is under-utilised in the regulatory field, particularly in the forensic realm. Preliminary investigations suggest:

1. a lack of systematic monitoring or at least data-sharing between agencies mapping landcover change and those responsible for enforcing land management regulations; and
2. an agency reluctance to refuse permits, to prosecute, and/or to prefer counterproductive revegetation works to preservation.

More effective utilisation of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems could treat the first and exposure of the second would at least highlight the nature of the problem for policy-makers.