Mapping the environment with remote sensing

State government agencies across Australia need to stay in touch with developments in Earth observation technology to map and accurately measure changes in the environment. This knowledge is vital to government agencies developing policies, implementing and assessing policies and legislation, and making changes as required.

To allow government agencies to keep pace with these changes, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences researchers developed a collaborative program that enabled the University to work directly with scientists, policy-makers and legislators to develop and test techniques to use new satellite data streams to deliver the specific information they require. This approach ensures the Queensland Government has the most up to-date legally defensible science behind its environmental monitoring

Ultimately, this continued and demonstrated ability of the Queensland Government to measure environmental change in a way that is scientifically and legally defensible is the overarching impact of this research. This understanding of environmental change has created policies and legislation that has measurably improved the condition of the environment.