History of the Space Generation Advisory Council

History of the Space Generation Advisory Council

Formation
In December 1997, the UNOOSA Secretariat invited the International Space University (ISU) to organize a youth forum as part of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The ISU then solicited alumni volunteers to plan, organize and conduct the Space Generation Forum, in parallel with other UNISPACE III activities. Thus, the Space Generation Forum was planned, organized and conducted by young space professionals. The 160 participants in the Space Generation Forum were from 60 nations. Their expertise covered all fields of space, including science, technology, law, ethics, art, literature, anthropology and architecture, and many other fields relevant to space. On 23 July, the participants had before them a document containing the 49 recommendations. The participants were asked to choose the 10 best recommendations, which are contained in the document entitled Space Generation Forum: visions and perspectives of youth.

As part of UNISPACE III, alumni of the International Space University organized and convened the Space Generation Forum (SGF). The aim of the forum was to express the visions and perspectives of youth with regards to future space activities. This evolved to include a youth input into the deliberations of the UN at UNISPACE, and was charged to make recommendations to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Over 160 young people from 60 countries attended the forum, which ran parallel to the UNISPACE III proceedings.

Of the ten recommendations from the SGF technical report that were accepted by the UN, five were integrated into the Vienna Declaration.

One of the recommendations was "To create a council to support the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), through raising awareness and exchange of fresh ideas by youth. The vision is to employ the creativity and vigor of youth in advancing humanity through the peaceful uses space".

Five of the SGF's top ten recommendations (marked in bold) were integrated into the Vienna Declaration on Space & Human Development:

• A Global Space Education Curriculum
  
• Priority Access to Mobile Satcom Network for Disaster Emergency Management
  
• International Space Authority
  
• SGF Follow-up
  
• Establishment of an International Centre for Space Medicine
  
• International Space Chamber of Commerce
  
• Action Plan for Meeting the World's Basic Needs through Technology
  
• Nobel Space Prize
  
• UN Space Advisory Council
  
• Planetary Defense/Protection