Mapping, Modeling, and the Fragmentation of Environmental Law

摘要

Environmental law is inextricably, if sometimes uncomfortably, intertwined with environmental science, and when environmental science evolves, legal thinkers usually ask whether law should evolve too. The emergence of quantitative spatial analysis has just begun that reaction. The products of spatial analysis often form the evidentiary basis for decisions required by environmental laws, and spatial analysts often work to fulfill environmental law's informational demands. But while environmental law has influenced spatial analysis, the feedback loop has not closed. Advances in spatial analysis have not led to any significant revisions to the structure, practice, or theory of environmental law. The time for greater engagement has come.