The UN’s New Pact for the Future Addresses Collaboration, Debris and Peaceful Uses of Space

All 193 member states of the United Nations have signed a new Pact for the Future that highlights a renewed commitment to global collaboration, including active debris removal, space traffic management, and peaceful uses of space.

Introduction to the Pact for the Future

The UN announced it has officially agreed and signed the Pact for Future after nine months of negotiation. The pact notes a total of 56 action points which “protect the needs and interests of present and future generations” through deep multilateral collaboration.

Within the 56-page document, the UN has highlighted the importance of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and paves the way for the fourth UNISPACE conference in 2027 – due to take place 28 years after the third, and 56 years after the first.

Specifically, the Pact sees members commit to “strengthen international cooperation for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of all humanity.”

It reaffirms the Member States’ commitment to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which it says “must be recognized as the cornerstone of the international legal regime governing outer space activities”, given humanity’s increasing reliance on space for day-to-day life.

The Pact also reaffirms the importance of the “widest possible adherence to and full compliance” in that Treaty, as well as the importance of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space for the establishment of frameworks on space traffic management, space debris, and space resources.

“We are living through an age of increased access and activities in outer space,” the Pact reads.

“The growth in the number of objects in outer space, the return of humans to deep space, and our expanding reliance on outer space systems demands urgent action.”

The Pact also invites greater engagement with private sector, civil society and “other relevant stakeholders” in order to achieve “intergovernmental” safety and sustainability outcomes in outer space.

UNISPACE IV 2027: A New Chapter in Space Collaboration

Key to the Pact’s call for deep space collaboration is the announcement of the UNISPACE IV conference, set to take place in 2027.

It will mark the fourth UNISPACE convention in history, and the first of the 21st Century, with UNISPACE III having occurred in 1999.

The inaugural UNISPACE was called in Vienna 1968 at the dawn of the Space Age, after the world witnessed a leap in space technology and applications, and the launch of Earth’s first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957.

According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), UNISPACE I focused on raising awareness of the vast potential of space benefits for all humankind.

Fourteen years later, in 1982, UNISPACE II took place, which looked to address concerns about maintaining peace in outer space and preventing a global arms race, as well as supporting devleeoping countries to benefit from space technology.

The third, and most recent, UNISPACE convention occurred in 1999, which UNOOSA said “created a blueprint for the peaceful uses of outer space in the 21st century” through the 33-recommendation document ‘Space Millennium: Vienna Declaration on Space and Human Development (Vienna Declaration)’.

Like the three previous conferences, UNISPACE IV will take place over a series of weeks in Vienna, Austria.