Can you explain to Us what your job is Within this interesting Forum?
The Paris Peace Forum is an initiative launched in 2018 to
create a multi-stakeholder platform in Paris to address
global governance issues. Throughout the year, the
Forum works to strengthen the governance of common
goods, such as space, cyberspace, or the oceans, and
to improve the international management of global
issues, development of AI and disruptive technologies
or ecological and social transition of the economy.
Its annual event brings together heads of state and
government, heads of international organizations, civil
society leaders and private sector executives around
concrete initiatives that give a large place to the global
South. Within its Policy Department, I’m heading the
outer space, digital and economic workstreams which
especially include two flagship initiatives: the Paris Call
for Trust and Security in Cyberspace on securing the
free, open and stable Internet, and the Net Zero Space
initiative on space sustainability.
In 2023, 60 proposals
Will be selected that
may be presented to the
international community
during the sixth edition of
the Paris forum on peace in
November in Paris. What can you tell us and add about
It? How many could have to
Do with the space sector?
History has proven that international
cooperation is key to overcoming
global challenges and ensuring lasting
peace. Since 2018, the Paris Peace
Forum serves as a platform bringing
together all stakeholders around the
world, mobilized to foster innovative
multi-actor solutions to the common
challenges we fase through its annual
Call for Solutions which has gathered
over 460 projects from around the
World so far.
The 2023 Call for Solutions consists of 10 themes, including outer space governance through the theme “Promoting fair access to outer space for the Global South to accelerate SDGs and growth”
The 2023 Call for Solutions
consists of 10 themes, including outer
space governance through the theme
“Promoting fair access to outer space
for the Global South to accelerate
SDGs and growth”. We are very
pleased with the quantity and quality
of the nominations relating to outer
space.
Now an independent selection
committee is in the process of reviewing
them to choose the 50 projects that will
come in person to the November event.
The idea is to always have a balance
in terms of the number of projects for
each of the 10 sub-themes, always
respecting a minimum of three. Stay
tuned, the selected projects shall be
announced very soon!
In other years, Have proposals been received to achieve a sustainable use of outer space between now and 2030?
In the last two editions of the Forum, 7
projects working on practical solutions
to achieve a sustainable use of outer
space have participated in person
in our annual event: 2 academic
institutions and 5 private sector actors.
Out of these, two came from Japan
(The University of Tokyo, Astroscale),
two from the US (CisLunar Industries,
the University of Colorado Boulder),
one from France (Share My Space),
one from Germany (Orbit Recycling),
and one from India (Digantara). The
approaches presented by these
solutions have ranged from the point
of view of promoting regulation and
norms of good behavior, to in-orbit
recycling and reuse of debris, to
pioneering solutions on Active Debris
Removal and Space Situational
Awareness.
What activities or
measures are carried out
throughout the year to
mitigate the generation
of new orbital debris and
remedy existing ones?
The Forum’s DNA is political; hence
we approach this issue from the
policy side. The main goal of the Net
Zero Space Initiative is to raise better
political awareness on the emergency
on the Space debris emercy and
offer a platform to draw consensual
normative and operational solutions
to address it.
In the framework of the
Net Zero Space Initiative, two working
groups have for instance gathered
actors from across the Space value
chain and all over the World in 2022 to design Policy proposal to increase
the interoperability of National
regulations as well as to discuss
further harmonization concerning
the apprehension of risks of collision
in orbit.
In 2023, stakeholders are
focusing on the notion of carrying
capacity on the one hand, and on the
other hand on the governance of inand
on-orbit activities.
Is there a great concern
for space debris and to
be able to achieve the
sustainability of the
sector?
Although there are still many
differences in the manner different
actors approach this issue, there is
indeed a clear international concern
about the increase of space debris and
the need to urgently tackle it.
Now is
the time to join forces to harmonize the
way we approach space sustainability
for the whole sector, and to design
efficient innovative governance
frameworks to ensure our orbital
environment remains usable for the
benefit of all.
What can the industry do
to raise awareness at the
political level and in the
general public to better
protect the earth’s
orbital environment?
First of all, join the 'Net Zero Space' initiative! Beyond that, it is important for the industry to understand that they are players in a market that is international in nature, and therefore, that international dialogue (or lack thereof) has a direct impact on their business and their ability to offer essential services to the entire world.
The net zero space
initiative is an informal
coalition of actors
committed to
guaranteeing space
sustainability. What can
you tell us about it and
how it is developing?
The rationale to launch the Net Zero Space Initiative was that better political awareness and then, mobilization was needed to get to sustainable use of outer space. The Space sector is indeed confronted to a bizarre deadlock: while there is a strong, international consensus on the emergency to tackle Space debris at a technical level, things appear to move very slowly.
That’s
partly because we lack proper political
leadership, which is a key element
in clarifying common goals and targets
as well as to increase incentive to behave
properly.
The evolution of environmental
awareness on Earth is a good
comparison point for this. While offering
a platform to develop action-oriented
policy proposals to move the debate
further, the Initiative is first and foremost
focusing on mainstreaming space
environmentalism to policymakers and
the public at large.
If we were to compare today’s state of space governance to a historical period, it would not so much be the “Wild West”, but rather the Holy Roman Empire”
Should we increase
international cooperation
by joining the forces of
the private sector, as well
as the authorities and
regulators?
Indeed we should. When we hear about
space governance, it’s often said that
outer space is the new “Wild West”. I beg
to differ.
Indeed we should. When we hear about
space governance, it’s often said that
outer space is the new “Wild West”. I beg
to differ. Should we compare the state
of today’s space governance with a historic
period, it would be less the Wild West
that the Holy Roman Empire: an eclectic
collection of normative framework of different
values, supposingly coordinated
by an overhanging authority (the 1967
treaty).
The priority for today’s space
governance is indeed increasing the
interoperability of national frameworks
and well as better coordinating existing
legal sources with industry good practices
and other non-binding guidelines.
This can only be done in a multistakeholder
format, in which all sort of actors,
whether from Government, the Industry,
but also civil society and academia, contribute
from their own perspective.
What can we do to help
in that call so that they
join us to contribute to
the “Net Zero Goal of the
Space”?
All actors have a role to play in raising
better awareness about the importance
of protecting Earth’s orbital environment.
And not only actors directly involved in
the construction, launch, or operation of
space systems: users should also position
themselves in this important debate.
Either tech companies, universities, but
also financial institutions, GPS enabled
products and more: we are all daily
space users, even though we might not
always be self-aware.
STARLINK, Together with
other constellations,
represent a great
challenge to achieve
these objectives. Is there
any proposal or initiative
that can help in this
complex situation?
Large constellations are indeed a game
changer. While there is also an asset in
the deliverance of critical services, both
for populations and government, they
represent a change of scale in terms
of active objects in orbits.
De hecho, hacen que sea ineludible tener una urgente discusión respecto a estándares mínimos de coordinación de tráfico espacial e intercambio de datos, entre otros temas particularmente sensibles. Antes de que surja un tratado internacional, muchas iniciativas están abordando el impacto medioambiental de tales programas y misiones.
The EPFL lead Space Sustainability Rating
is for instance offering companies and
institutions a possibility to rate their
missions according to their level of
sustainability.
Are there interesting
applications for traffic
management to avoid
collisions and develop
innovative technologies
that help to achieve
this end?
Innovation is an important part of the
path towards space sustainability.
Automated collision avoidance systems,
relying on advanced AI technologies,
are a good example of innovation
helping solve this issue. But technological
advancement doesn’t suppress the
governance element of the answer: AI
systems are probabilistic algorithm that
relies on large sets of data.
Which not
only means that you need to have data,
and in this case SSA data – it also means
that you need to share data between
actors, train your AI systems on similar
sets of data, and ensure minimum
standards for algorithms to ensure their
interoperability.
Innovative technologies
are important but will only be key
coupled to innovative governance.
