Deep-sea mining

The 29th Session of the International Seabed Authority closed in early August with an important decision: there will be a new Secretary-General of the Authority. Leticia Reis de Carvalho, a Brazilian national, oceanographer and UNEP Chief of Branch for the Ecosystems Division for Latin America and the Caribbean, will replace the incumbent Michael Lodge from 1 January 2025. This is being seen as a win for the ocean, with the new head expected to pursue an agenda in which protection of the marine environment is given a stronger role. Over the course of the meeting, negotiators from the 169 States which are party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continued work on the Mining Code, completing the first read-through of the consolidated text of draft exploitation regulations, but much work remains on controversial issues that attract divergent opinions. ISA Council members aim to complete exploitation regulations for deep-sea mining by the 30th session in 2025 - without them seabed mining shouldn’t take place. The Council is split: some States are strong advocates of deep-sea mining whilst a growing number of States, companies, scientists, NGOs and civil society organizations are calling for a precautionary pause, moratorium (or even an outright ban) on seabed mining until more research on the impact of mining on deep-sea ecosystems has been carried out. With applications to mine the seabed from Nauru/The Metals Company and China in the pipeline, it is still not clear how the Legal and Technical Commission of the ISA will react when the applications are submitted. Discussions were held at the session regarding the need to establish a general policy for the protection and preservation of the marine environment but consensus on whether to do so remained elusive.

Read the ENB meeting report here and find out more about seabed mining here.