Production: Pablo Cantudo
In the event of finding life in our solar system or outside it, even if it is microorganisms or simple animals, such as small crustaceans. For example, in Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has an ocean of liquid water under a thick layer of ice, and is a candidate to host life. Could some kind of legal figure or protection be recognized for such creatures? Would we be within our right to investigate them? In the supposed case of finding life, would scientific research or the protection of such creatures take precedence?
To whom do the resources of the solar system legitimately belong? Nobody at all? Humans for being the only intelligent civilization willing to exploit them? What if another civilization from abroad was willing to exploit them? Do outer ecosystems deserve protection, as do those on Earth?
Those responsible for the world's governments, on the question of space exploration, must listen to the experts to exploit and explore outer space in a responsible way.
Juan Manuel de Faramiñán Gilbert, professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Jaén and member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, kindly answers these questions.
