Rosalind Franklin Society Proudly Announces the 2022 Award Recipient for New Space

This article extends the rigorous, interdisciplinary investigation of social- ecological systems (SESs) to an emerging resource system, the Moon. The Lunar Resources Database (LRD) project showcases the diversity and complexity of lunar SESs in support of ongoing global lunar governance characteristics that lead to successful and policy discussions. We find that many self-governance and collective action in terrestrial resource systems are present in likely lunar resource systems highlights for diverse management regimes and their differences and foreshadows the need modes of governance. We propose that the ongoing analysis of complex social-ecological lunar systems through the LRD is a valuable contribution to lunar governance and policy development. Finally, we outline an institutional analysis framework of conventional and new modes of governance within the context of the Moon as future work is required to progress evidence-based research to inform coherent, timely, sustainable, and equitable lunar governance.