The future of deep sea mining and mineral extraction is the subject of crucial negotiations that began Monday in Jamaica. Conservationists hope to control a developing sector that has not yet been adequately regulated.
Over the past ten years, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a little-known intergovernmental organization with headquarters in Kingston, has worked with its member states to develop a mining code for the potential exploitation of nickel, cobalt, and copper in deep seabed regions outside of national jurisdictions. But a deal has eluded us thus far.
Additionally, the ISA would now be required to consider — but not necessarily issue — licenses for potentially environmentally destructive mining operations if countries request them as of Sunday, following the expiration of a deadline cited by the tiny Pacific state of Nauru.
That would be a step up from the current situation, which has seen only exploratory licences given as the deep sea mining industry waits impatiently to get going.
The ISA is approaching “the most critical decision-making period in the history of its existence,” according to Emma Wilson of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. The ISA will continue to meet through the end of the month.
“We cannot allow exploitation activities to start” before there are adequate regulations in place, Chile’s representative to the ISA’s 36-member council said during the opening of Monday’s session.
“We should initiate a precautionary pause.”
Commercial exploitation “should not be carried out” until the mining law was in place, the contract-making ISA Council stated in March.
However, they were unable to reach an understanding over the procedure for reviewing a potential application or the precise interpretation of the Nauru-related phrase.
NGOs anticipate the Council to reach a more definitive conclusion by the time it concludes on July 21. They are concerned that businesses may take advantage of the legal void.
In a statement, Francois Chartier of Greenpeace said, “Very little stands between the natural wonders of the deep ocean and the mining machines.”
