International environmental law and environmentally harmful space activities: learning from the past for a more sustainable future
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPPEL-09-2020-0040 |
| Published date | 04 August 2021 |
| Date | 04 August 2021 |
| Pages | 139-151 |
| Author | Sara Dalledonne |
International environmental law
and environmentally harmful
space activities: learning from the
past for a more sustainable future
Sara Dalledonne
Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse part of the relevant legal instruments
currentlyavailable for regulating environmentally harmfulspace activities.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper opted for a functional researchmethod combined with a
comparativemethodology. To make the argument, this paper relies on the contextualanalysis of primary and
secondary sources of law, instrumentof soft law and the relevant background material (e.g. journalarticles,
textbooks,law reform and policy papers).
Findings –The central section will focus on the principles of international environmental law to outline
their utility in the contemporarycontext. Finally, the conclusive part will point out the several waysin which
the use of analogies can shape the outer space regime, especially concerning how those principles that are
developedto safeguard the Earth, can also be extended for the protection of the space ecosystem.
Originality/value –Environmental hazards are rapidlyincreasing and the current international law and
policy on planetaryprotection are inadequate to meet the challenges of the near future. There is no possibility
of an environment-friendly and sustainable future if not strictly connecting it with a comprehensive and
transparent acknowledgement of the human mistakes made on Earth. There are valuable lessons to be
learned from our past, and it is under this perspective that the trend of polluting the outer space can be
reverted. This paper fulfils an identified need to study the correlation between principles of international
environmentallaw, space law and the current situation in the outer space.
Keywords International environmental law, Space debris, Space law, Outer space,
Environmental law, High sear, Antarctica
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction on the current state of affairs as regard to space activities and
its impact on earth
From the decades since humanity has started making forays into space, key actors dealing
with space activities havestarted using a set of analogies to international domains –oceans
and Antarctica –to better regulatethe outer space environment and the increasing activities
and operations in outer space (Peterson, 1997). Legal instruments such as the 1958
Convention of the Law of the Sea [1] (whichwas then superseded by the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea) [2] and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty [3] have beenused as a
tool to develop the outer space governance regime (Mendenhall, 2018) and to shape the
foundation for the negotiation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (henceforth, OST) [4].
Compared to the text of these treaties,the utilization of earthbound analogies can be seen in
the concepts of “freedom of the high seas”(Article2 of the 1958 Convention) and in the one of
“freedom of outer space”(OST, Article1). High Seas, Antarctica [5] and Outer Space are res
communis which do not fall under nationalsovereignty, whereas they belong to the common
International
environmental
law
139
Received2 October 2020
Revised14 March 2021
Accepted11 May 2021
Journalof Property, Planning and
EnvironmentalLaw
Vol.13 No. 2, 2021
pp. 139-151
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9407
DOI 10.1108/JPPEL-09-2020-0040
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