UNITED NATIONS: Opponents of deep sea mining suffered a serious setback on Friday when they failed to take a first step towards an international moratorium on the controversial practice.

Until now, those in favour of such mining — which would deliver minerals key to the green transition but with a potentially high environmental cost — have managed to prevent the International Seabed Authority (ISA) from even taking up any debate on the subject.

This time, the debate took place, but a draft calling for a “dialogue” towards “the development of a general policy […] for the protection and preservation of the marine environment” did not advance after a week of talks in Kingston, Jamaica.

Proponents manage to prevent International Seabed Authority from even taking up any debate on the subject

Numerous delegations, from China to Saudi Arabia to the African group of member states, said the draft lacked clarity and that the ISA’s full assembly of 168 members was not the forum to make any decision on the protection of marine habitats.

Instead, those countries said the council, made up of 36 states, should decide. Faced with consistent opposition, Chile withdrew the draft measure as the assembly’s annual session — which makes decisions by consensus — drew to a close.

“We are somewhat disappointed,” said Chilean representative Salvador Vega Telias. Though he believed he had support from a majority of states, he opted to shelve the discussions until July 2025 — a proposal that was not approved either.

Deep sea mining in international waters involves scraping the ocean floor for minerals like nickel, cobalt and copper, crucial for renewable energy technology. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the ISA is responsible for both protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdictions and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of resources in those zones.

Deep sea mining has not yet taken place beyond the experimental and exploratory stage. The ISA’s council, which for now only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for more than a decade. They are aiming to adopt a mining code in 2025.

Non-governmental organisations and scientists warn that deep sea mining could damage habitats and harm species that are little understood, but are potentially important to the food chain.

In addition, they point to the risk of disrupting the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon emitted by human activities, and the noise that could disturb species such as whales.

‘Necessity for our survival’**

However, multiple countries have lined up exploratory contracts and pursued tests. Nauru, a tiny Pacific island country, has successfully pushed the ISA to allow exploitation applications to be submitted, even in the absence of a mining code.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2024