Outer space activities would not magically repair environmental damage being caused by unbridled individualism and unsustainable patterns of behaviours, the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was told this afternoon, by the representative of the Holy See, as the Conference continued its general exchange of views.

Humankind must take a new course of action, based on knowledge and education, to bridge the gap between technological progress on the one hand and moral primitiveness on the other, Vittorio Canuto, Adviser to the Holy See, continued. Knowledge meant awareness not only of commercial prices but of intrinsic values as well. It meant that Earth and outer space were not seen as real estate but rather as a biosphere in which humankind was but one part of the whole.

The thin shell around the Earth called outer space was just an extension of the environment in which we live, the General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Johannes Andersen, said. Knowledge about the universe was obtained from that thin shell, which was just as vulnerable to over-exploitation as the rest of the environment. Governments should cooperate through the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to establish an international system of environmental impact assessment, emission standards, and traffic rules for the space environment. In space, even more than on Earth, prevention was better than an uncertain cure in the long run for all concerned.

The international community had been warned of a social and economic crisis arising from overpopulation, pollution and a scarcity of resources, the Director of Switzerland's Space Office, Peter Creola, said. In future, there would probably be need to search for resources outside the planet. Rational use of space resources could be the missing link between dreams of prosperity and the need to protect the splendors and biological diversity of Earth from irreversible damage. In the history of planet Earth, civilizations had towered and then disappeared. If the challenges of environmental degradation and overpopulation were not met, this technical and global civilization might prove to have the shortest life of all great civilizations in the history of humankind.

Representatives of Belarus, Colombia and Uruguay also addressed UNISPACE III this afternoon, as did representatives of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

The two-week Vienna Conference unites Governments, the space industry and civil society representatives to construct a practical framework for maximizing the benefits of space science and technology for all Earth's inhabitants, based on international cooperation and the peaceful uses of outer space.

It will meet again at 9 a.m. tomorrow, 22 July, to conclude its general exchange of views.