Landsats Aff

AT: Sats bad – Natives

GIS tools good for preservation of indigenous rights
Harmsworth 98 (Garth, MSc (Hons) Earth Sciences @ Waikato University, iapad.org/publications/ppgis/indigenous_values_and_GIS-a_method_and_a_framework.pdf, DA 7/8/11, OST)

In New Zealand, geographic information systems (GIS) are becoming increasingly important in all areas of resource management and environmental planning. There is growing interest among the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, in the use of GIS to help them achieve some of their goals and aspirations. This article describes recent efforts to identify Maori values which are part of Maori traditional knowledge (maatauranga Maaori). It then presents a method and framework for incorporating these values into GIS tools. The Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, make up 14% of the country's total population of 3.7 million. Close to three-quarters of Maaoris (Hapi 1996) have a strong sense of belonging to regional or geographically concentrated "iwi" (tribes) and "hapuu" (sub-tribes). Land, water, and air are central to Maori life and values, and they regard themselves as the "kaitiaki", or guardians of all natural resources. The rights of the Maori people to their lands, estates, forests, fisheries and everything else they hold dear, including language and natural resources, are laid down in the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). According to present legal requirements, Maori values must be taken into account in land-use planning. However, the scarcity and sensitivity of the information on Maori values, as well as the issue of confidentiality, have made it difficult to meet these requirements. This, in combination with the need to record vast amounts of spatial information related to historic land grievances, has led to a growing interest in the development of GIS tools geared specifically to the Maaori.
GIS tech helps preserve values of indigenous peoples
Harmsworth 98 (Garth, MSc (Hons) Earth Sciences @ Waikato University, iapad.org/publications/ppgis/indigenous_values_and_GIS-a_method_and_a_framework.pdf, DA 7/8/11, OST)

The present research, which made use of participatory methods involving a number of Maori organizations and individuals in New Zealand, established a number of culturally acceptable methods for recording, organizing and making available information on Maori values in a textual and computerized form (Harmsworth 1995, 1997b). All such information was classified accord in g to specific geographic tribal areas (ranging in size from 500 km2 to 5000 km2). This produced models linking traditional knowledge— often in both oral and textual form—to GIS and multi-media systems. These models made it possible to store information on Maori values (see table 1) and biophysical information, for the benefit of environmental management planning, while protecting confidentiality and addressing intellectual property rights. Before making use of GIS technology, all information was recorded and organized within a framework (see t able 2).

GIS allows maintenance of traditions and cultural identity
Harmsworth 98 (Garth, MSc (Hons) Earth Sciences @ Waikato University, iapad.org/publications/ppgis/indigenous_values_and_GIS-a_method_and_a_framework.pdf, DA 7/8/11, OST)

Information too sensitive or confidential to store in a GIS is linked via a database directory to an individual person. This allows additional information to be obtained from an alternative knowledge source. Some of the available options are shown in table 3. By following the options in table 3, highly sensitive or confidential information can be displayed in the form of a label on a map; alternatively, it can be simply flagged in the GIS as a sensitive or restricted area and the enquirer directed to another information source. This latter option relies on the availability of people with accurate traditional knowledge. Sadly, traditional indigenous knowledge is diminishing at an alarming rate as the population ages (Maundu 1995).

AT: T—its

Landsats are government-owned
Chakroborty 7(RC, Visiting Prof @ JIET, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, 12/11, http://www.myreaders.info/02_Satellite_Image_Information_threat__to__National_Security.pdf, accessed 7-3-11, CH)

Extracts from Sec. 3. Definitions : apply - The term ‘Landsat system’ means Landsats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and any follow-on land remote sensing system operated and owned by the United States Government, along with any related ground equipment, systems, and facilities owned by the United States Government. - The term % Landsat 6 contractor' means the private sector entity which was awarded the contract for spacecraft construction, operations, and data marketing rights for the Landsat 6 spacecraft. - The term 'Landsat 7' means the follow-on satellite to Landsat 6.

***DA Answers***

AT: Spending

Landsats overcome spending-crop yields solve the internal link: North Africa proves.
NASA 7 (http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/pdf_archive/soc_0011.pdf, accessed 7/4/11)CJQ

Like most decisions, political and otherwise, having a thermal band on future Landsat missions is a matter of money. In order to show the intrinsic worth of a thermal band, water managers have attempted to quantify the monetary benefits of the improved water efficiency made possible with thermal data from Landsat. The benefit of Landsat-induced water efficiency can best be quantified by examining improved food yields. In the industry, water mangers talk about the “crop per drop” number, how much food can be produced with a given amount of water. 41 An example of improved crop per drop can be found in North Africa. Egypt and Sudan control about 80 cubic kilometers per year of Nile River flow for irrigation. The productive value of that water, meaning the value of the wheat, rice, cotton and other agricultural products produced using this controlled water, is $0.05 to $0.10 per cubic meter. 42 Conservative estimates state that better water allocation could improve that productivity by more than 10 percent per year, which is a value of $400M to $800M per year. 43 (Note: in Nile Delta study areas monitored between 1995 and 2002, crop yield increases were much more dramatic: rice yields up by 53% and cotton yields up by 41%). 44 In the U.S., irrigated crops are worth $70 billion per year, 45 so, sustaining the productivity of irrigated land is paramount to the U.S. By another metric, the value of Landsat’s thermal band to water managers can be estimated by looking at the potential savings that Landsat-based calculations offer as opposed to traditional calculation methods. Traditional methods of calculating water consumption involve monitoring pumping stations, wells and diversion points. This involves many man-hours and can rarely provide all of the necessary information for effective resource management. For the eastern Snake River Plain in Idaho, the cost of this type of traditional monitoring costs the state half a million dollars per year. In comparison, the same monitoring done with Landsat data is $80,000. When looking at the western states together, Morse has estimated a potential ten-year savings as high as $1B.

Benefits from Landsats far outweigh the costs of implementation.
Allen 6 (Richard, G., Dept. of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Dept. of Civil Engineering, U. Idaho, http://www.idwr.idaho.gov/GeographicInfo/Landsat/PDFs/case_for_thermal_imager_on_Landsat.pdf, accessed 7/5/11) CJQ

We see a tremendous future for the use of high resolution Landsat thermal band information in water resources management in the United States that would justify the cost of a complete, fortified, stand-alone Landsat program. Morse 18 has conservatively estimated cost savings of ground-water pumping monitoring over a ten year period for the western United States through the use of Landsat to estimate water consumption by agriculture as opposed to expensive and problematic pump flow measurements, site visits, and checking of electrical power consumption records. He has estimated the ten-year value of using Landsat imagery at about 1 billion dollars, which far exceeds the total cost for the Landsat 8 program. The potential savings for this one application, alone, are enormous. Mapping of consumptive use is critical for surface water management.