Proceedings of the Workshop - United Nations Office for Outer ...

MAINTAINING THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT 207benefit of all countries. These countries also each havetheir own duty ... a duty to each other.(Note: Unesco Declaration on the Safeguardingthe interests o f Future Generations, 1997)And it is up to the lawyers to point them in theright direction!Thank you very much for your kind attention.Commentary PaperKarl-Heinz BockstiegelIn my function as one of the Commentators o f thisSession 8, due to the limitations in time, I can onlypresent some few thoughts in addition to the excellentreport by Dr. Lubos Perek presented in advance of thisSession.Dr. Perek's report shows very well the growingpractical relevance and risks for the space environmentas well as from space for the earth environment. As weall know, many studies and meetings on the technicalaspects of particularly space debris have beenproduced and held such as those by the EuropeanSpace Agency and by the Scientific and TechnicalSub-Committee of COPUOS under the chairmanshipof Prof. Rex who himself is an expert on space debris.I can, therefore, concentrate on the legal aspectsinvolved. Also in this regard, quite a few papers havebeen presented over recent years many of which,however, have the weakness of being "only" bylawyers without participation o f technical expertswhile it is rather obvious that particularly with regardto space debris any legal consideration must be basedon the technical assessment o f risks and the technicalrealistic options for improvement.Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach seemsnecessary on this topic. The first interdisciplinarymeeting on space debris was probably the oneorganized by the Institute o f Air and Space Law ofCologne University in Cologne in 1998 the proceedingsof which have been published (Böckstiegel (Ed.),Environmental Aspects o f Activities in Outer Space -State of the Law and Measures o f Protection, Studiesin Air and Space Law Vol. 9, Köln, Berlin, Bonn,München 1990).The longest and most systematic work on the legalaspects of space debris has been done by theInternational Law Association (ILA), its Space LawCommittee, its biannual conferences, and somenational or regional meetings. Starting with arespective decision at the ILA Conference in Seoul in1986, the ILA Space Law Committee has been doingresearch and exchanging information and views andfinally preparing drafts regarding the protection of theenvironment from damages caused by space activities,particularly space debris. In doing so, the legal expertsin the ILA Space Law Committee have had the benefitof support from three Scientific Consultants, namelyDr. Lubos Perek from the Czech Republic who hasprepared the report for this meeting, Prof. Dieter Rexfrom Germany who presently is the Chairman of theScientific and Technical Sub-Committee of COPUOS,and from Prof. Humberto Ricciardi from Argentina.Landmarks of the ILA work on space debris wereparticularly: a regional seminar of the ILA in BuenosAires in December 1987; the international colloquiumof the Institute o f Air and Space Law in Cologne inMay 1988 mentioned above; discussions and a furthermandate at the ILA Conference in Warsaw in August1988; a meeting in Ascunción del Paraguay in October1988; a report to the 1990 ILA Conference inAustralia which resulted in a mandate to the SpaceLaw Committee to start work on the elaboration ofrelevant principles; after the preparation of three draftsa report to the 1992 Cairo Conference o f the ILAwhich resulted in a mandate to now prepare a final textof a draft international instrument.After this long and extensive preparation, since1992 three drafts had been elaborated, circulated anddiscussed at various stages by the ILA Space LawCommittee and its three Scientific Consultants and thefinal text with the title "International Instrument on theProtection of the Environment from Damage Causedby Space Debris" was submitted, with an extensive