The UN COPUOS Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities

Abstract

The United Nations has addressed the concept of sustainable development on Earth in a number of global summits and fora for the past 40 years. Extending the concept of sustainability to outer space is a much more recent development, arising from the realization that the Earth's orbital space environment constitutes a finite resource that is being used by an increasing number of space actors that include States, commercial actors and other non-governmental entities. The proliferation of space debris, the increasing complexity of space operations, the emergence of large constellations of satellites, and the increased risks of collisions and interference with the operation of satellites raise concerns about the safety of space operations and the long-term sustainability (LTS) of space activities. Addressing these developments and risks requires international cooperation. The leading international forum to discuss questions of international cooperation in space activities is the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS). In 2010, the Committee began its consideration of this topic with a view to producing a set of internationally agreed guidelines that States could follow to ensure that their space activities would not cause harm to the space environment or the safety of space operations. Following a broad international process conducted under the aegis of COPUOS, in June 2019 the Committee adopted a set of 21 voluntary, non-binding UN COPUOS Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (‘COPUOS LTS Guidelines’). This paper provides a brief overview of the development of these guidelines, summarizes the salient features of the guidelines and discusses the implementation of these guidelines from the perspectives of government, industry and civil society. In adopting this set of LTS Guidelines, COPUOS acknowledged that more work needs to be done on this topic and it agreed to establish a follow-up LTS working group with a five-year mandate to continue the work. The main themes and challenges facing the next phase of the LTS discussions in COPUOS are also discussed.