The World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) of UNESCO, recently published a new report entitled “The Ethics of Outer Space Exploration and Utilisation”, to which Nina Klimburg-Witjes contributed as an expert speaker at the Commission’s hearings. As COMEST’s previous report on the ethics of outer space dates from 2000, this new report provides timely insights for a more ethical, sustainable, and just approach to outer space exploration, in times where the space sector is shaped by a larger and more diverse set of stakeholders, vying for more permanent settlements in an outer space environment that is increasingly congested with space debris. Drawing from multicultural perspectives, including Indigenous cosmologies, the report sets out nine core ethical principles and provides recommended adaptations to the current space governance architecture.
The full report can be found here.