Lunar governance should be multilateral

As commercial lunar missions accelerate and multiple nations pursue Moon landings, a critical governance vacuum is emerging: who has the right to extract and...

What Happened

As commercial lunar missions accelerate and multiple nations pursue Moon landings, a critical governance vacuum is emerging: who has the right to extract and own lunar resources, and under what international rules?
The central argument is that the United States' Artemis Accords — a bilateral/plurilateral framework it has promoted as the de facto standard for lunar cooperation — are an inadequate substitute for a genuinely multilateral legal regime under the United Nations.
The 1979 Moon Agreement, which explicitly calls for an international regime to govern the exploitation of lunar and other celestial body resources, has not been ratified by any state that currently conducts self-launched crewed spaceflight (the US, Russia, or China), severely limiting its legal force.
As of 2026, 62 countries have signed the Artemis Accords, but major space powers — Russia and China — have refused to sign, viewing it as a US-led framework designed to legitimize resource extraction under American terms.
The geopolitical stakes are rising: the Moon's south pole is believed to contain water ice deposits that would be essential for establishing permanent lunar bases and enabling deeper space exploration, creating immediate commercial and strategic incentives.
The call for multilateral governance argues that the Moon — like the deep seabed or Antarctica — should be governed as a global commons under transparent, inclusive international institutions rather than through competing bilateral arrangements.

Static Topic Bridges

The Outer Space Treaty (OST), 1967

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies — commonly called the Outer Space Treaty — was opened for signature on 27 January 1967 and entered into force on 10 October 1967. It forms the foundational framework of international space law and has been ratified by 115 states.

Article I: Outer space shall be the province of all mankind; exploration and use shall be carried out for the benefit and interest of all countries
Article II: Outer space, the Moon, and other celestial bodies are NOT subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or any other means — the "non-appropriation" principle
Article IV: Prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in space or on celestial bodies; the Moon and other celestial bodies are exclusively for peaceful purposes
Article VI: States bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including activities of non-governmental entities (i.e., private companies)
Critical ambiguity: Article II prohibits national appropriation but does not explicitly address whether private extraction and commercialization of space resources constitutes appropriation

Connection to this news: The entire debate over lunar governance centers on Article II's ambiguity — is extracting and selling lunar resources a form of prohibited "appropriation"? The US argues it is not; Russia, China, and several developing states disagree. The Moon Agreement (1979) attempted to resolve this; the Artemis Accords sidestep it.

The Moon Agreement (Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies), 1979

Adopted by the UN General Assembly on 18 December 1979 and entered into force on 11 July 1984, the Moon Agreement sought to elaborate on the OST's principles and specifically address resource exploitation. Its key provision declares the Moon and its resources the "common heritage of mankind" and calls for an international regime to govern their exploitation before such exploitation becomes feasible.

Declares all natural resources of the Moon "common heritage of mankind" (Article 11)
Calls for establishment of an international regime (similar to the International Seabed Authority under UNCLOS) to govern resource exploitation before exploitation begins
Entered into force with only 18 ratifications; as of 2026, no major spacefaring nation (US, Russia, China, India, Japan, ESA member states) has ratified it
India has neither signed nor ratified the Moon Agreement
Critics argue the "common heritage of mankind" doctrine disincentivizes investment; proponents argue it prevents a "first-mover advantage" race to monopolize lunar resources

Connection to this news: The Moon Agreement represents exactly the multilateral approach the article advocates — but its near-universal rejection by spacefaring nations illustrates the political difficulty of reimposing commons-governance principles once commercial and strategic interests are engaged.

Artemis Accords (2020)

The Artemis Accords are a set of non-binding bilateral agreements between the United States (through NASA) and partner nations, first signed in October 2020. They operationalize principles for the civil exploration and peaceful use of the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids, drawing on OST provisions but making specific assertions about resource extraction.

Explicitly state that extraction of space resources does not constitute national appropriation under Article II of the OST
Introduce "safety zones" — exclusion areas around operations — which critics argue are de facto territorial claims despite the non-appropriation principle
Non-binding in nature: they carry no enforcement mechanism and create no new international legal obligations
62 countries signed as of 2026, including India (signed October 2023), but Russia and China have refused
India's signing reflects its participation in the Artemis program (LUPEX lunar mission in collaboration with JAXA) while maintaining its own independent lunar program (Chandrayaan series)

Connection to this news: The Artemis Accords represent the US-led alternative to a UN-based multilateral framework — a "coalition of the willing" approach that, by excluding Russia and China, risks fragmenting the governance of humanity's shared celestial commons into competing geopolitical blocs.

Common Heritage of Mankind Doctrine

A principle of international law that designates certain global commons — areas beyond national jurisdiction — as the shared inheritance of all humanity, to be managed collectively for the benefit of all, including future generations. It originated in UNGA Resolution 2749 (1970) applied to the deep seabed.

Formally incorporated into the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982) for the deep seabed — governed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA)
Applied to the Moon's resources under the Moon Agreement (1979, Article 11)
Elements: non-appropriation, peaceful use, international management, benefit sharing, and reservation for peaceful purposes
Contrasts with the "freedom of the high seas" approach, which permits extraction subject to national regulation — the model the Artemis Accords implicitly favour

Connection to this news: The article's call for multilateral lunar governance is essentially an argument to apply the common heritage doctrine to the Moon through an operational international regime — analogous to the ISA for the deep seabed — before competing national programs create facts on the ground that foreclose that option.

Key Facts & Data

Outer Space Treaty (OST): opened for signature 27 January 1967; entered into force 10 October 1967; 115 states parties
Moon Agreement: adopted UNGA 18 December 1979; entered into force 11 July 1984; ratified by only 18 states, no major spacefaring nation
Artemis Accords: first signed October 2020; 62 signatories as of 2026; India signed October 2023
India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed at lunar south pole: 23 August 2023 — first nation to do so
Russia's Luna-25 mission failed (crashed) at the lunar south pole in August 2023
International Seabed Authority (ISA) established under UNCLOS 1982 — model for proposed lunar resource governance
Moon's south pole: estimated water ice deposits — critical resource for future crewed missions and deep space exploration
UNGA Resolution 2749 (1970): established common heritage of mankind doctrine for the deep seabed
India has signed neither the Moon Agreement (1979) nor any binding lunar resource governance treaty beyond the OST