12 December 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Just days after the European Space Agency (ESA) declared a renewed interest in space technologies, members of United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed their annual commitment to prevent an arms race in space. The General Assembly’s draft resolution passed with an overwhelming majority by UN member states, except for the Unites States, which voted “No”, and Israel, which abstained. This was not surprising to many as both countries voted in the same manner for the last three years. Each year the GA introduces and adopts a resolution on the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS), which calls for states, especially those with space capabilities, to preserve space for peaceful purposes. This year, the vote comes on the heels of the ESA’s approval of 30 new space projects and approximately $13.8 billion in funding to develop new space technologies. At a meeting in Hague last week, the ministers reasoned that investing in space would help Europe get through the economic downturn. But the investment might have an added benefit: helping climatologists in developing countries combat climate change. “Better access to space science and technology for experts in developing countries would contribute and strengthen the capacities of developing countries to improve the management of natural resources by increasing and facilitating the use of data acquired from space,” Sergei Chernikov, spokesperson for United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), told MediaGlobal. “In addition, it would support achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the UN Millennium Declaration.” Goal Seven of the Millennium Development Goals sets out to reverse loss of environmental resources, including safe drinking water. Experts at UNOOSA recently warned that unless satellite data is used to monitor the expanding Sahara desert, for example, Africa could turn into one large and arid desert posing serious shortages of water and food for millions. Satellite missions could help developing countries monitor a variety of global changes, like the loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion and massive ice melts in the polar ice caps. “Space technology is capable of providing the synoptic, wide-area data required to put measurements in the global context needed for the observation of many climatic phenomena,” Chernikov told MediaGlobal. Members of UNOOSA are currently in Kenya, with members of ESA, facilitating a workshop on ways in which space technologies can address challenges to sustainable development as well as the effectiveness of space instruments. However, not everyone believes ESA’s investments are designed for altruistic purposes. A recent report by the Transnational Institute, a Dutch think-tank, accuses the ESA of militarizing space under the guise of environmental and economic stimulation. “Contrary to the U.S., where most space initiatives have a clear military label, within the EU the issue is still caught up in secrecy,” said the author of the new report Frank Slijper, an economist and arms trade specialist. “Though EU military space policies have overcome some of their controversy, much of their acceptance is rooted in the emphasis that is put on human security or non-military aspects.” The militarization of space has long been a contentious issue but as the success of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly depended on the use of military satellites to direct U.S. missiles and bombers to their intended targets, the idea of a non-militarized outer-space appears as outdated as the bayonet. “I think the U.S. role so far has been disastrous, in the sense of their policy of space dominance….” Slijper told MediaGlobal. “While at the same time obstructing serious international diplomatic engagements to strengthening UN’s role, it is most responsible for a worsening space security environment, with the potential of conflict – be it in space or on earth. “The EU, for its part, should play a much more active role in . . . reversing its own increasingly ambitious military space polices.” Until scientists and climatologists from developing countries have access to space technologies, they will just have to rely on those who do have the capabilities, even if the ultimate purpose of space exploration is national security.

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