Concluding statement by Mr. Robert Tarzwell
Rapporteur of the Space Generation Forum

Check against delivery

The Space Generation Forum convened on 19 July. The Forum included 160 delegates from over 60 nations, representing all fields of space endeavour, including arts, sciences, technology, space agencies, industry, and academia. Over a period of six days, our delegates engaged in intense discussions, with the goal of creating a set of recommendations and an implementation plan.

I am pleased to say that we achieved consensus on ten recommendations, and that we have also proposed feasible implementation plans. On behalf of the Space Generation Forum, I ask the member states of the United Nations to consider our recommendations, and we encourage you, in the long term interest of all humanity, to work with us in improving the human condition using space.

I suspect that the youthful ambassadors of the Space Generation will soon be knocking on your doors, seeking national support in implementing the Forum's plans.

The results of our work are contained in two key documents. A/CONF. 184/C. I /L. I I is the statement of our recommendations in brief, and this can be found as an Annex to the UNISPACE III Report. A/CONF. I 84/L. 14 is the Technical Report of the Space Generation Forum, and it restates the recommendations in a more developed form, along with providing feasible implementation plans.

The Technical Report also contains the text of our Declaration of the Space Generation, a brief text which expresses the essential message of the Space Generation Forum. We consider this our key document.

For those interested in the historical process of the Forum, I suggest A/CONF. I 84/L. 8, a collection of all forty-nine recommendations of the Space Generation Forum, from which consensus was achieved on ten.

There are many groups and organizations who have made the Space Generation Forum possible. First, our thanks goes to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for deep support and commitment to our purpose. We also wish to thank the State of Styria for warm hosting of our delegates, along with the City of Graz which also welcomed us. Austrian hospitality will long be remembered!

Our Forum was also made possible through the support of many space related organizations and aerospace industries.

I must also point out the untiring secretarial support of the Office of Outer Space Affairs. Your willingness to advise us, and your efficiency in document control and distribution, played a direct role in making our Forum a success.

I am now left with the task of conveying to you the essence of the Space Generation Forum's message to the world. I can find no better words to do this than those contained in the Declaration of the Space Generation:

In leaving the Earth's cradle in the quest for understanding our place in the Universe, we are entrusted by the next generations with the sustainable development of our planet for our peaceful future.

We, the Space Generation, regardless of culture, language and creed must ensure that space exploration will improve the quality of life for the benefit of all humankind

We express the hope and the conviction that our common future ought to proceed ethically, with an understanding of the long-term consequences of our actions, and with all of humanity walkingf orward together as one.

On behalf of the Space Generation Forum, my thanks to the Plenary for providing us this voice in the closing exercises of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.