The Pacific nations of Palau, Fiji, and Samoa today announced their opposition to deep sea mining and the launch of a new alliance to prevent the destructive industry from getting off the ground. The announcement was made by Palau’s President Surangel Whipps, Jr., at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) side-event co-hosted by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
If no moratorium is put in place, mining of the deep seas could begin by July 2023, threatening one of the world’s largest carbon sinks as well as fragile ocean ecosystems. Scientists warn that deep sea mining would result in an irreversible loss of biodiversity and could threaten other benefits to humanity, including future medicines and fisheries for tuna and other species.
Palau’s announcement comes at a critical moment as several high-level meetings will take place over the next few months to decide the fate of the world’s oceans. The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the body charged with protecting the global seafloor as the ‘common heritage of mankind,’ will meet in July and August to continue to develop, adopt, and approve regulations for the nascent industry. The meetings follow Nauru’s triggering last year of an obscure legal provision called the ‘2-year rule’ that will open up a vast new frontier of the global ocean commons to large-scale industrial resource extraction by July 2023 with whatever rules are in place at that time.
The ISA has faced criticisms from civil society and others around its transparency, accountability, and inclusivity practices. In April, the Los Angeles Times published an expose on the ISA, reporting conflicts of interest between the deep-sea mining industry, the Authority, and its secretariat. At the next July and August sessions, the participation of civil society will be severely restricted.
These announcements follow Chile’s recent letter to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’s annual meeting of States Parties to call for a 15-year moratorium on deep-sea mining. The letter cites concerns about the environmental damage deep-sea mining would cause and a lack of sufficient scientific data. Also, in April this year, the Pacific Parliamentarians’ Alliance on Deep Sea Mining (PPADSM) called for the suspension of deep sea mining activities in jurisdictions within the Pacific region to allow for a greater scientific understanding of the potential impacts of deep-sea mining.
The growing political momentum to stop the emerging industry before it starts comes as opposition builds from frontline communities, civil society, scientists, automobile and technology companies, financial institutions, and the fishing industry. The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative published a new paper earlier this month stating that, given the anticipated risks and environmental implications, deep-sea mining should not be considered a component of a sustainable blue economy. They also urged investors to avoid the industry.