Using satellite data for environmental enforcement
28 March 2015
Technology is increasingly making it possible for us to go back in time to see what happened in a specific place at a particular moment
Archives of data from Earth observation technologies, including satellites, can provide historical evidence that would otherwise be unavailable. Looking ahead, these technologies will increasingly offer near real-time surveillance (including video surveillance from space).  Between 2010 and 2014 the Centre for Law and the Environment conducted ground-breaking research funded by the UK Space Agency, AHRC and ESRC on the potential of earth observation technologies as a enforcement tool. The lead academics Ray Purdy (Hon Senior Research Associate with the Centre) and Ray Harris (Emeritus Professor at °×С½ãÂÛ̳ Dept of Geography) are now turning the research into practical reality with the launch of an independent consultancy The initiative , the first of its kind in the world, received considerable publicity in the national press and on television.
The satellite image provides evidence of illegal waste operations