From the Antarctic to the Moon: Global Governance in Extraterritorial Areas

Please join the Rethinking Diplomacy Program's Ocean Diplomacy Working Group (ODWG) and Space Diplomacy Lab (SDL) for a conversation about treaties and governance in extreme environments - from the Antarctic to the Moon - and beyond with Evan T. Bloom, polar expert, lawyer, and former senior diplomat.

The discussion will center on challenges in Antarctica and outer space governance, the U.S. role, and geopolitical and geo-economic concerns, with a special focus on the Antarctic and Outer Space Treaties, the US-lead Artemis Accords (which seek to create rules and norms for scientific and commercial activities on the Moon), and the strengths and limitations of diplomacy in extraterritorial areas.

We will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of consensus-based decision making in treaties, how geopolitics influences Antarctic conservation, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the Antarctic Treaty's commercial mining ban, and how diplomacy in Antarctica might be instructive for diplomats working on issues related to the rapid commercialization of space and potential resource extraction activities on the moon and other celestial bodies.

Evan T. Bloom served at the U.S. Department of State from 1991 to 2020 where, among other roles, he served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries and Director of the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs and was a member of the federal Senior Executive Service. Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Bloom helped establish the Arctic Council, supervising U.S. representation in the Council from 2006 to 2020, and led the U.S. delegation to high seas treaty negotiations (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction) at the UN from 2016-2020.

As a member of the Office of the Legal Adviser, Bloom was the State Department's space law adviser from 1996-2002, during which he participated, inter alia, in the negotiation of the multilateral treaty concerning operation of the International Space Station.

Bloom is currently a global fellow at the Wilson Center's Polar Institute in Washington, DC, senior advisor to the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic, Marine Protected Area Advisor to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, and Polar Governance Chair at the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies. He is co-editor of the Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Polar Law (forthcoming 2025). Mr. Bloom is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Explorers Club.