Terms of Use

Watch on Nature

1. About these terms of use

  1. These terms apply to anyone who uses the Watch on Nature website at https://won.wilderness.org.au/ (the Website). In these terms of use, "we", "our" and "us" refers to the Wilderness Society Ltd ABN 18 611 229 086 and "you" refers to any person who uses the Website. Please read these terms before using the Website. If you have any questions about these terms, please contact us using the contact details on the Website. By using the Website, you agree to these terms.
  2. We may change these terms at any time. We will notify you if there are significant changes that affect you.

2. About the Website

  1. We have created the Website to help us identify, monitor and raise awareness about potential land clearing and deforestation in Australia. We do this by allowing members of the public to identify land that may be subject to these activities. The Website also enables users to view how the vegetation in an area has changed over time by comparing satellite imagery between two dates.
  2. We make the Website available to the public to assist us to collect data on vegetation change to further our objectives which include the protection, promotion and restoration of wilderness and natural processes across Australia. When you use the Website to identify land that may be subject to vegetation reduction activities we are notified of this and we may for example undertake our own enquiries to confirm the nature of the activities, including whether they are approved under law or whether a permit is required. We undertake these activities lawfully.
  3. When we have confirmed that an area of land has been subject to land clearing or deforestation activities we may identify that area of land on the Website.
  4. Land clearing, deforestation and other vegetation reduction activities are not necessarily illegal. A reduction in vegetation may result from fruit or vegetable crop harvesting or from periods of drought. In other cases the reduction in vegetation can be authorised by law or approved by government at the Federal, State or local level. For this reason, just because land is identified on the Website or the satellite imagery as showing a change in vegetation levels on the land, does not mean the activities that have taken place there are illegal.
  5. You must not use information on the Website to undertake your own illegal investigations or for any other illegal purpose. We do not condone any illegal conduct by users of the Website including trespass to land or property, harassment of land owners, damage, theft or destruction to property, or any conduct which causes, assists, helps, supports, incites or encourages others to do any of those things. You must at all times comply with the conditions of use of the Website in section 4.

3. Registration

  1. You must register and create an account before you can use the Website. The Wilderness Society may accept or reject users at its discretion.
  2. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account.
  3. When you register you will be asked to choose a password. You must keep your password secret. You should change your password if you are concerned it may be known to others. You are responsible for all use of the Website made by anyone who uses your password, whether authorised by you or not.

4. Using the Website

  1. You may access and use the Website for the purpose of identifying land that you suspect may be subject to vegetation reduction activities.
  2. You must not use the Website or any information on the Website for any unlawful purpose including:
    1. to defame any person;
    2. to harass any person including a land owner;
    3. to commit any trespass onto land;
    4. to damage or destroy property on any land; or
    5. to cause, assist, help, support, incite or encourage anyone else to engage in any unlawful activity, regardless of whether that unlawful activity actually occurs.
  3. You otherwise must not use the Website or any information on the Website in a way that interferes with anyone else's use or enjoyment of the Website.

5. User Content

  1. The Website may allow users to upload their profile details, including a profile picture (User Content).
  2. You must ensure User Content:
    1. is accurate;
    2. is not offensive, defamatory, illegal or otherwise inappropriate;
    3. does not contain another person's personal information, unless you have their express consent to include it; or
    4. does not infringe another person's rights.
  3. You retain ownership of any intellectual rights you have in User Content. You give us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to exercise intellectual property rights in User Content in connection with our functions and activities. We may also use User Content to promote us, the Website and our other services. If you have any moral rights in User Content, you consent to us doing any act or omission in respect of User Content that would otherwise infringe your moral rights.
  4. We may remove or edit any User Content that does not comply with these terms, or which we otherwise consider to be harmful to our interests or objectives.

6. Suspending or closing your account

  1. You can close your account at any time.
  2. We may suspend or close your account immediately if you breach these terms or we suspect that you intend to do so.
  3. We may close your account without providing a reason by giving you reasonable notice.
  4. We may stop operating the Website at any time, in which case your account will be closed.

7. Intellectual property

  1. Subject to section 5(c) and 7(e), intellectual property rights in :
    1. the Website (including all content on the Website) belong to us and our licensors; and
    2. any data or other material created, written, developed or otherwise brought into existence in the course of your use of the Website vests in or is assigned to us on creation.
  2. With the exception of content specifically licensed on other terms, you may use the Website only for personal use and you must not:
    1. resell, redistribute or otherwise make any commercial use of the Website;
    2. download or copy the Website, except as may occur during the normal operation of your computer or device;
    3. modify the Website;
    4. unless we otherwise agree in writing, create any work that embodies any part of the Website; or
    5. frame any part of the Website (for clarity, this includes embedding part of or all of the Website in another webpage that is independent to the Website).
  3. If you give us any feedback, suggestions or ideas about the Website, they belong to us and we may use and disclose them.
  4. Our trade marks include the Wilderness Society logos. Our trade marks may not be used except as expressly permitted by these terms or otherwise with our prior written consent
  5. The Website contains Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) data, which is the copyright material of the State of Queensland. This data is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).

8. Security

We do not accept responsibility for loss or damage to computer systems or data arising in connection with use of the Website. You should take your own precautions to ensure that the processes you use for accessing the Website do not expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference.

9. Privacy

You consent to your personal information being collected, used, disclosed and otherwise handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy which is available at https://www.wilderness.org.au/about/privacy.

10. Links

The Website may contain links to other websites. We make no representation or warranty regarding the content of third party sites that are included as links, and we take no responsibility for the consequences of viewing and relying on any content on those sites. Provision of these links does not constitute endorsement or support by us for the information, products, services or persons associated with third party sites.

11. Cookies

Our Website may use "cookies", which are small strings of information stored on your device. Cookies allow us to identify you during your current session or if you visit our Website again later, so that we can personalise and improve your experience of using our Website. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can disable them in your browser.

12. Disclaimer and liability

  1. The information on our Website is provided for general information purposes only.
  2. We make no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of an information on the Website which includes data and other information provided by third parties. For example:
    1. we use the Google Earth Engine platform to run the map based components of the Website; and
    2. the Website incorporates Sentinel 2 satellite imagery provided by Copernicus (see herehttps://scihub.copernicus.eu/ ).
  3. You must evaluate and bear all risks associated with your use or reliance on any information on our Website. We also do not represent or warrant that the Website will be error free or continously available.
  4. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all liability(including for direct, indirect, incidental, consequential and special loss) arising from your use of the Website, however caused and whether arising from breach of contract, tort (including negligence) or any other common law, equitable or statutory cause of action.

13. Indemnities

You indemnify us and our officers, employees, agents and contractors ("those indemnified") against claims, liabilities, losses, damages, costs and other expenses made against, or suffered or incurred by those indemnified in connection with a breach of these terms by you.

14. General

  1. We can exercise our rights at any time within the limits of the law. If we delay or fail to exercise our rights, this does not mean we give up those rights.
  2. You cannot transfer or assign your rights or obligations under these terms without our prior written consent. We can transfer or assign our rights or obligations under these terms at any time to any person without telling you.
  3. When we are required by law to give information to you, you consent to that information being given by an electronic communication.
  4. The laws of Queensland, Australia govern these terms. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland, Australia in any action or legal process concerning these terms.
  5. In these terms, headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation, and unless the context requires otherwise:
    1. a reference to a document (including these Terms of Use) is to that document as varied, novated, ratified or replaced from time to time;
    2. "person" includes an individual, the estate of an individual, a corporation, an authority, an association or a joint venture (whether incorporated or unincorporated), a partnership and a trust;
    3. a word importing the singular includes the plural (and vice versa);
    4. if a word or phrase is given a defined meaning, any other part of speech or grammatical form of that word or phrase has a corresponding meaning;
    5. "includes" in any form is not a word of limitation.