Space Law and the Brave Blue World
- Paper number
IAC-07-E6.5.09
- Author
Mr. José Monserrat-Filho, Brazilian Association of Air and Space Law, Brazil
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The legal regime of Planet Earth is not included within the field of International Space Law. However, the positions and decisions of States and international organizations on the exploration and use of outer space, including all celestial bodies – except the Earth – are always taken on the basis of considerations, concerns, interests and political objectives located just here, on our Planet. To look after the Earth is not, in fact, a specific matter of International Space Law, as its name is indicating. Nevertheless it is one of its most important political missions. Moreover, it involves the very chance of survival. The mission is even more crucial as the international community becomes increasingly aware of the huge threats to Earth today, let alone in the next hundred years. This was clearly underlined in the last report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In this unprecedented context, it may be wondered which is the role of International Space Law when all means and instruments should be applied in a most creative manner so as to ensure a safer future for the “brave blue world” (see Nature’s Editorial, 1 February 2007) and its people. The present paper aims at giving answers to this question, taking into account the obligations and commitments concerning the Earth embodied in the 1967 Space Treaty, in customary international law and other related agreements and declarations. Special attention is equally focused on some proposals for the improvement of the current corpus iuris spatialis, and for the development of new instruments on present and future space issues.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E6.5.09.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.