Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In its first formulation, the concept of the common heritage of mankind was included
in the Declaration on Principles Governing the Sea-bed and Ocean Floor, and the Subsoil
Thereof, beyond the Limits of the National Jurisdiction (United Nations Resolution 2749
(XXV)of17December1970-A/RES/2749),andwaslaterincorporatedinArticle136and
Annex VII of the 1982 UNCLOS. Detailed provisions on the basic elements of the com-
mon heritage of mankind are included in Part XI of the same convention, which was later
negotiated and adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 August 1994. This part has to
be interpreted by Parties to the OST in light of the implementing agreement, finalized in
New York in 1994. The seabed and the ocean floor and the subsoil beyond the limits of
national jurisdiction are declared the common heritage of mankind. Article 136 enunciates
that the area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind and that all rights over
resources are vested with the ISBA, the organization which acts on behalf of all mankind.
Contextuallytothelongnegotiationsofthe1982UNCLOS,thenotionofthecommon
heritage of mankind was put forward by Ambassador Cocca (Argentina) in the context
of space law. The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies, usually identified as the Moon Agreement, was indeed concluded on 18
December 1979, just a few years before the UNCLOS, when the concept of the common
heritage of mankind was still debated in the framework of the law of the sea. The Moon
Agreement entered into force on 11 July 1984.
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The Moon Agreement fundamentally reiterates the principles affirmed in the OST, all
but Article 11. Article 1.1 widens the scope of the Moon Agreement to the other celestial
bodies within the solar system, other than the Earth (Art. 1.1), except insofar as specific
legal norms enter into force with respect to any of these planets. Reference to the Moon
includes orbits around or other trajectories around it. However the Agreement fails to draw
a definition of the Moon and celestial bodies.
According to Article 2, the activities carried out on the Moon, including the explora-
tion and use, are free and governed in compliance with international law and the Charter of
the United Nations. The formulation of this article is clearly shaped on the basis of Article
III of the OST, since its primary aim is to affirm that space activities on the Moon do not
