Call For Papers
'Special Issue in Earth System Governance Journal'
Earth-Space governance: Meanings, approaches, implications
Xiao-Shan Yap; Rakhyun E. Kim
Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
CALL FOR PAPERS
Human activities in space increasingly impact different domains on Earth, including socioeconomic development, energy, sectoral transitions, as well as environmental governance. However, in mainstream sustainability studies, challenges in space are considered as having little interaction with the challenges on Earth. Governance scholars have tended to pay less attention to the interaction between space governance and other governance regimes on Earth such as climate, ocean, or biodiversity. Despite some recent developments, space governance is becoming increasingly fragmented and detached from earth system governance. A notable example is how concerns over resource use on the Moon have seen the establishment of the Artemis Accords led by the United States on one hand, and China’s International Lunar Research Station on the other hand, intensifying political polarization (Bilal, 2024; Gross, 2023) therefore counteracting earth system transformation efforts.
In the meantime, the rapid development of space activities has led to growing science, policy, and public concerns over its other negative consequences. These include space congestion and space debris which threaten the long-term provision of space infrastructures (Bonnal and McKnight, 2017; Krag, 2021; Nature, 2021), atmospheric pollution from satellite re-entries (Park et al., 2021; Boley and Byers, 2021; Murphy et al., 2023; Nolan, 2023), access to dark and quiet skies (Kocifaj et al., 2021; Williams et al., 2024), and even security concerns arising from the increasing ‘grey zones’ in space governance (West and Miller, 2023). These emerging challenges have prompted the need to ensure space ‘environmentalism’ (Morin and Richard, 2021; Lawrence et al., 2022) or space sustainability more broadly.
More specifically, a group of scholars have emphasized the importance of exploring how space sustainability may impact sustainability on Earth, and vice versa (Galli and Losch, 2019; Losch, 2020; Yap and Truffer, 2022). The concept of ‘earth-space sustainability’ has been proposed as a response to highlight the need to address sustainability on Earth and in space in an integrative way (Yap and Truffer, 2022), for which an integrated governance paradigm is needed (Yap and Kim, 2023). This Special Issue aims to further enrich the debate on the idea of earth-space governance.
We call for studies that will contribute to the emerging body of literature around the ‘earth-space’ concept and its implications for governance. The proposed Special Issue seeks to collect the latest theoretical, methodological, and empirical work concerning human activities in space to develop an emerging framework for earth-space governance. We welcome contributions from diverse disciplinary backgrounds including environmental governance, innovation and transitions, science and technology studies, security studies, history and philosophy, geography, and social anthropology to collectively identify the main building blocks for the framework of earth-space governance. This requires, but not limited to, addressing the following research questions concerning the normative, analytical, and transformative dimensions of the framework:
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NORMATIVE
What should earth-space governance look like? Why is earth-space governance needed and what is its goal? In which directions should earth-space governance strive? What are the fundamental values and principles of earth-space governance?
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ANALYTICAL
What does the interface between earth system governance and space governance currently look like, in terms of institutions, actors, structures, etc.? How do actors interact, i.e. through what processes and mechanisms? What methodological approaches are needed to better address these questions?
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TRANSFORMATIVE
How to transform the existing governance systems in order to move from the currently fragmented earth and space governance towards earth-space governance?
To jointly develop the abovementioned three dimensions of earth-space governance, we welcome scholars, researchers, practitioners, and indigenous knowledge leaders to submit contributions that address the following issues:
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Philosophical considerations of earth-space governance: Why or in what ways is earth-space governance useful, e.g. preventing or minimizing problem shifting between Earth and space in terms of environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
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Boundary identifications: What is it to be governed taking into account the potentially different versions or meanings of earth-space systems due to the diversity of worldviews.
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The architecture of earth-system governance: Which institutions are governing the interface between Earth and space, and how? Are they effective? How could the institutions and their complexes be reformed for earth-space sustainability?
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The agency of earth-space governance: This includes the questions of who can and how to govern the earth-space system(s), who is winning, and who is losing? Who are governing, who should govern, who holds power, who is excluded, and how to empower the others to govern, including the less developed worlds and the minority populations.
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We also welcome papers addressing the above based on different empirical scopes, including different satellite technologies, cyber-space security, and activities on other celestial bodies.
All contributions are encouraged to reflect in the discussion and/or conclusion on the interactions or implications between the earth system and outer space in terms of the environmental, economic, and social dimensions. In so doing, this Special Issue will provide a state-of-the-art account of the meanings, conceptions, and limitations or challenges of the emerging concept of ‘earth-space systems’, propose an integrative and inclusive framework that takes into account the diversity of approaches and worldviews, and co-define with the community the normative, analytical, and transformative dimensions of the framework.
REFERENCES
Bilal, M. 2024. The advent of astropolitical alliances. Space News. 8 January 2024. Available at: https://spacenews.com/advent-astropolitical-alliances/
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Bonnal, C., and McKnight, D.S. 2017. International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Situation Report on Space Debris. Available at: https://iaaspace.org/wpcontent/uploads/iaa/Scientific%20Activity/sg514finalreport.pdf
Boley, A., and Byers, M. 2021. Satellite mega-constellations create risks in Low Earth Orbit, the atmosphere and on Earth. Nature, 11:10642.
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ESA, 2023. World-first Zero Debris Charter goes live. European Space Agency (ESA). November 6, 2023. Available at: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Clean_Space/World-first_Zero_Debris_Charter_goes_live
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Galli, A., Losch, A. 2019. Beyond planetary protection: What is planetary sustainability and what are its implications for space research? Life Sciences in Space Research 23, 3–9.
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Gross, M. 2023. The Artemis Accords: International Cooperation in the Era of Space Exploration. Harvard International Review, 27 January 2023. Available at: https://hir.harvard.edu/the-artemis-accords/
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Krag, H. 2021. A sustainable use of space. Science 373 (6552), 259. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk3135.
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Kocifaj, M., Kundracik, F., Barentine, J.C., Bara, S., 2021. The proliferation of space objects is a rapidly increasing source of artificial night sky brightness. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 504 (1), L40–L44. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slab030.
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Lawrence, A., Rawls, M.L., Jah, M. et al. The case for space environmentalism. Nature Astronomy 6, 428–435 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01655-6
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Losch, A. 2020. Planetary sustainability collection. Global Sustainability 3, 1–3.
Morin, J.F., Richard, B., 2021. Astro-environmentalism: towards a polycentric governance of space debris. Global Policy, 12 (4): 568-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12950
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Murphy, D., Abou- Ghanema, M., Cziczob, D., Froyd, K., Jacquot, J., Lawler, M., Maloney, C., Plane, J., Ross, M., Schill, G., and Shen, X. (2023) Metals from spacecraft reentry in stratospheric aerosol particles. PNAS, 120 (43): 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2313374120
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Nature, 2021. The world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision. Nature 596 (2021), 163. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02167-5
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Nolan, K. 2023. Thousands of satellites are launched into low orbit. It could harm the ozone layer. The Washington Post, 5 March 2023. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/03/05/low-orbit-satellites-ozone-layer/
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PPF, 2021. The Net Zero Space Declaration. Paris Peace Forum (PPF). November 12, 2021. Available at : https://www.netzerospaceinitiative.org/declaration
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Park, S.-H., Laboulais, J.-N., Leyland, P., Mischler, S. 2021. Re-entry survival analysis and ground risk assessment of space debris considering by-products generation. Acta Astronautica, 179, 604-618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.09.034
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WEF, 2021. New Space Sustainability Rating addresses Space Debris With Mission Certification System. World Economic Forum (WEF). June 17, 2021. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/press/2021/06/new-space-sustainability-rating-addresses-space-debris-with-mission-certification-system
West, J. and Miller, J. 2023. Clearing the Fog: The Grey Zones of Space Governance. CIGI Paper No. 287, November 30, 2023. Accessible at: https://www.cigionline.org/publications/clearing-the-fog-the-grey-zones-of-space-governance/
Williams, A., Boley, A., Rotola, G., Green, R. 2024. Sustainable skies and the Earth–space environment. Nature Sustainability, 7: 228-231.
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Yap, X.-S., & Kim, R. 2023. Towards earth-space governance in a multi-planetary era. Earth System Governance, 16, 100173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2023.100173
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Yap, X.-S., Truffer, B. 2022. Contouring ‘earth-space sustainability’. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. 44, 185–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2022.06.004