A Study on the Governance of the Global Commons

Jin-young Moon et al.

The global commons are resource domains or areas which no nation exert sovereignty over. Three typical global commons refer to the deep seabed, Antarctica and, outer space. They have been said to be important due to not only abundant resources but also mankinds’ security. However, these have been free of any national or international regulation. The absence of exclusive property right could lead to economic inefficiency and international conflicts. This inherent problem is put forth by Garrett Hardin in his famous article, The Tragedy of the Commons. In order to avoid these problems, many theories or principles are postulated. One of these principles is the principle of the common heritage of mankind (CHM). It has been accepted and applied to the global commons since it was incorporated into the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). With improving technology and developing countries’ growing, the application of the CHM has been a source of controversy. Consequently, it is necessary to suggest the new principles for the governance of the global commons. This research investigates not only the common properties of global commons but also their existing governance.

First, we investigate issues of the deep seabed. For a long time the open access doctrine or mare liberum (free sea for everyone) of the high seas had ruled the governance of the deep seabed. But, UN adopted UNCLOS in 1982, and the CHM has been incorporated in the governance of the deep seabed. Based on UNCLOS, International Seabed Authority (ISA) was founded to manage the exploration and the development of mineral resources in the deep seabed. There have been conflicts between the leading countries which insist on their priority of natural resources they explored and found and the following countries which insist on suspension of development of natural resources in the deep seabed. ISA still suspends the development of mineral resources in the deep seabed, but it admits the priority of the leading countries if they explored two sector of the deep seabed and waive the one sector.

Second, this study analyzes the current issues of antarctica. Antarctica is facing rapid environmental degradation due to human pressures such as pollution, and the effects of global warming. Compared to the deep seabed, however, the governance of Antarctica has been stable and good at handling the major concerns of the protection of Antarctica. The governance of Antarctica works based on the Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). The reason of the stability of the governance of Antarctica is that all the participating countries agreed to the protection of Antarctica with no development of its resources. In addition, ATS has prohibited any country from claim to the sovereignty over Antarctica.

Third, outer space is interesting to investigate since there has been no organized governance. Since its inception after the launch of Sputink in 1958, the governance of outer space has been created and modified. The five principal space law treaties had been signed between 1967 and 1981. The initial establishment of the governance was not difficult, and the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) has been responsible for managing the governance. However, the governance of outer space underwent a more controversial development than the deep seabed and Antarctica. With fast growing technology of spaceship and its related parts, the governance should have been modified. but the conflicts between the leading countries and the following countries hinder from the development of the governance of outer space. Shortage of orbits of satellites and space debris created major problems in the use of outer space, but all the countries participating in the governance had not agreed to the management system of handling these new problems yet.