The Moon and Mars Urgently Need Environmental Law

If one had the chance to save a new continent, hardly touched by human hands, a continent rich with opportunity due to its unspoiled nature, I know of no environmentalist that would advocate for rapid exploitation and plundering of that land. And if that land were already on the drawing boards of mining and extraction companies, planning roads, housing, and all that is necessary to start commercial severance of the riches of that land, would environmentalists stand by and take no effort to seek legal protection for that nature?
But that is essentially the case presented today, with such plans drawn up for the Moon and Mars, to harvest their waters and take their minerals. The legal protections offered to the fragile environments found there are indeed a vacuum of law, it barely exists. And beyond them, other destinations also offer prospects of life and fragile ecologies. Even now, ESA is sending the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and NASA the Europa Clipper towards Jupiter to seek life on its moons. And the moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are potentially water rich, and thus potentially bearing lifeforms yet unknown.
This chapter presents an argument that the Moon, Mars, and planets, moons, and asteroids beyond our Earth contain environments deserving more rigorous legal protection than currently provided. That existing legal protections from existing space law do not suffice. That we can do better. And must do so soon.