exclusively to their own use. As a result of this many non-resource- States have advanced the view that there should be a sharing of such solar energy. How should such sharing be arranged? The legal-political arena will ultimately dispose of the claims over the use, including the sharing, of the solar energy resource. All of the institutions that have been mentioned above, and others, will be involved in effecting the community decisions relating to such sharing. The product of both the claims of States and the decisions of such institutions, especially when the latter are clothed in legal form, such as an international treaty or convention, will govern the use of such resources. What has just been suggested indicates that there are several ways for the international law of the space environment to come into being. One is through the acceptance of peaceful and beneficial practices. This is known as customary international law. The other is the more formal international agreement process that results from detailed negotiations. Both can be aided by duly considered resolutions of the UN General Assembly, especially when the adoption has been by unanimous vote. With respect to space resources the preferred approach up to the present has been that of formal agreements. These agreements have been the particular product of the space-resource States, and it is true that their terms benefit such countries. With the voting control of the General Assembly now in the hands of the LDCs, the with the augmented COPUOS being more heavily populated with the LDCs, as well as equatorial countries, the question has been raised whether such forums should be employed in the future when space environment law is being formulated.
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