Planetary stewardship in view of Earth-Space sustainability

Introduction

Space-based satellite infrastructures have become indispensable for daily activities on Earth. These opportunities are shaped by an increasing number and variety of actors: from hegemonic rivalry among leading nation states to competition between billionaire companies to build satellite constellations.

The rapid expansion of Space activities has led to growing Space debris that challenges the long-term sustainability of the Earth’s orbit. These developments are furthermore causing global injustice, in particular in terms of uneven development, as countries grow increasingly reliant on Space infrastructures. Addressing the interrelations of Earth- and Space sustainability is therefore an imminent global challenge.

Concept of Planetary Stewardship

I argue that understanding these rapid developments in Space should be informed by the concept of planetary stewardship, i.e. the ambitions construed by actors to control large-scale system development on Earth and in Space.

Spelling out the conditions and mechanisms of sustainable planetary stewardship will enable the formulation of new governance approaches for Earth-Space sustainability.

Research Objectives

PLANETSTEWARDS will break new ground by theorizing planetary stewardship at the interface of sustainability transitions, economic development, and global governance literatures.

I will investigate four main stewardship approaches:

1. State-centric
2. Market-centric
3. Global community-centric
4. Technocratic approaches

Methodology

I will:

i) Identify actors’ value orientations and strategies;
ii) Analyze processes and mechanisms of stewardship within and across manifold socio-technical systems;
iii) Determine possible outcomes of stewardship across different contexts.

Based on a comparative, embedded case study design, and combining text-based data from multiple document stocks and interviews, I will conduct in-depth process tracing using discourse-based network analysis.

Expected Outcomes

PLANETSTEWARDS will derive principles-based stewardship frameworks for future Earth-Space sustainability.