Day: February 3, 2026

THE LUNAR JURISDICTIONAL TRAP

The recent unveiling of Russia’s Selena project, a nuclear power plant slated for the lunar surface by 2035 under the joint Russo-Chinese International Lunar Research Station program, has been hailed as an unprecedented ambition of engineering. But beneath the proposed cooling towers lies a volatile reality. We are about to place the highest-stakes technologies of the 21st century—autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) and nuclear fission—on a legal foundation that has been frozen since the Cold War. In a commentary for JURIST website, Vishal Sharma of NALSAR University in Hyderabad argues that we need a new Lex Spacialis to fill the vacuum of space before it is filled by the strongest unaccountable power, with no human oversight.

Planet Watch

Dutch court orders climate measures for Bonaire

The Hague District Court ruled that the Netherlands has failed to meet its international obligations on climate change. The court ordered the government to adopt adequate measures to better protect Bonaire, a Dutch Caribbean island, within 18 months. The court concluded that the government had violated the rights of the residents of Bonaire under the European Convention of Human Rights. The recent advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice significantly influenced the Dutch court in determining the state’s obligations in regard to climate change. (Photo: Dialogue Earth)