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international seabed authority
Saving the Deep Blue Sea Is Up to All of Us
As we have begun to unravel the mysteries of the deep sea over the past two decades, the wisdom behind the international community’s commitments to protect it is clearer than ever. Now is time to act.
Sep 24, 2024
This week’s United Nations General Assembly marks nearly 20 years since the body first resolved to restrict bottom trawling on the world’s seamounts, submarine mountains that rise thousands of feet above the sea floor and comprise some of the most biologically rich marine ecosystems on the planet.
Led by Palau and other small island nations with generations-long ties to the ocean, the ensuing decades witnessed a raft of subsequent agreements that expanded protections for more of the deep sea—the dark, cold waters below 200 meters—culminating last year with the adoption of a treaty to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
These are important achievements that should be celebrated. But, we have been involved in diplomacy long enough to know that such agreements are often just the beginning of a long and winding journey to full implementation.
Today, for instance, not only does bottom trawling continue on seamounts, it occurs in ever deeper waters, despite scientific evidence of the severe damage it causes to corals and other habitats. In fact, the UN’s most recent World Ocean Assessment found that “fishing, especially bottom trawling, constitutes the greatest current threat to seamount ecosystems”.
A similar story is unfolding elsewhere in the deep sea. Not long ago, the crushing pressure and near total darkness of the mesopelagic layer of the ocean, sometimes referred to as the “twilight zone” (200-1000 meters deep), was thought to be inhospitable to life.
However, technological advances like submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, now offer a window on a world that is alive with deep water fish, squid, and shrimp. It is estimated that this marine realm holds up to 95 percent of all ocean fish by weight and as many as 10 million different species—a level of biodiversity akin to tropical rainforests.
We also now know that the deep sea environment is critical to the health of the ocean’s wider food web, including fish stocks that countless people around the world depend on for food and employment.
Moreover, new research has revealed that the mesopelagic’s staggering biomass plays an indispensable role in the climate system by keeping enormous amounts of heat-trapping gasses out of the atmosphere in a process known as the carbon pump.
However, as overfishing, pollution, and rapidly warming waters continue to take a toll on global fish stocks, nations have increasingly been looking at authorizing their fleets to exploit the deep sea in order to meet the insatiable demand for fish products used in fertilizer, aquaculture, and dietary supplements.
The danger of over-exploitation doesn’t end 1000 meters down. Mining companies have long looked to extend their reach from the land into the deep sea. Today, for example, the UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which regulates deep-sea mining, is working on finalizing rules to manage commercial operations on the ocean floor.
It has already permitted exploratory mining voyages in the Pacific’s vast Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where the ships dredge the sea floor 4000-5000 meters below the surface for nodules of nickel, manganese, copper, and cobalt that without government subsidies would never turn a profit.
As elsewhere, the activities could cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem and potentially release carbon that has been stored safely for millennia. If approved, full-scale mining could commence in a few years.
Remarkably (and not without irony), research funded in part by a corporate mining interest recently discovered the presence of “dark oxygen” in the same area of the seabed. It has long been understood that oxygen was created by living organisms in the presence of light through the process of photosynthesis.
However, a study published over the summer suggests that the electrochemical properties of the aforementioned nodules can generate oxygen in total darkness. The findings could have far-reaching implications that help us understand the origins of life and demonstrate the high stakes involved with mining.
As we have begun to unravel the mysteries of the deep sea over the past two decades, the wisdom behind the international community’s commitments to protect it is clearer than ever. Our imperative task today is to fully implement them before it is too late.
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It Is Time for Biden to Back a Moratorium on Deep-Sea Mining
A U.S. moratorium would send a strong message that it supports neither destructive seabed mining nor creating a new domestic market for minerals sourced from the ocean.
Jul 25, 2024
Five thousand new species were discovered earlier this year on a single research expedition to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone—a 1.7 million square mile area between Hawaii and Mexico. A steady stream of studies like this one reveal that from the darkest depths to the shallows by our shores, there are a multitude of undiscovered species in our oceans.
But the Clarion-Clipperton Zone also possesses a high concentration of minerals, and has therefore captured the eye of a risky new industry: deep-sea mining. If zones like this one are opened up for full-scale industrial mining, numerous newly discovered and undiscovered species will be at risk. Mining threatens to permanently destroy vast sea floors, undersea mountains, and otherworldly hydrothermal vents.
We urge U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration to call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, and stop this destructive industry from wreaking havoc on our seas. Right now, mining the deep seas is largely illegal under international laws, which means we can still prevent the destruction of untouched ocean areas and the multitudes they contain.
In short, deep-sea mining is an unnecessary threat to our global climate, the stability of our oceans, and the economy that depends on them.
But time is running out. At the end of July, nations will come together in Kingston, Jamaica at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which oversees commercial seabed mining in international waters, to advance draft mining rules. While the U.S. is not a member of the ISA, a U.S. moratorium would send a strong message that it supports neither destructive seabed mining nor creating a new domestic market for minerals sourced from the ocean. Twenty-five member states of the ISA—along with an increasing number of environmental, scientific, and Indigenous groups—already support a moratorium.
Yet the ISA is on track to allow deep-sea mining to begin–with increasingly lax regulation. In a recent draft of the ISA’s Mining Code, environmental protections for sensitive ecosystems had been stripped out. And in a breach of transparency norms, the identities of those proposing language to accelerate the approval of commercial mining licenses were omitted.
Some in the U.S. Congress are encouraging the acceleration of industrial deep-sea mining in U.S. federal waters, and federal agencies are preparing for the possibility of mining applications in the country, including an area off the Southeast U.S. called the Blake Plateau. This region, still scarred from test mining in the 1970s, is home to one of the world’s largest deep-sea coral reefs. Fishermen have long sought to protect this area, but deep-sea mining could put that protection—and their livelihoods—at risk. Last year, fishing industry groups joined the chorus of opposition to deep-sea mining.
The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn’t restricted to the sea floor. It will impact the entire water column top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it. Byproducts from mining could expose economically and culturally important species such as tunas to toxic sediment plumes, potentially contaminating fisheries. These plumes risk damaging known and unknown species at every depth, including those that sequester and transfer massive amounts of carbon.
Pro-mining interests argue that deep-sea minerals are needed for green energy technologies, like batteries for electric vehicles and solar panels, to meet future demand and mitigate climate change. We must not give in to this false choice between oceans and climate, and instead recognize that protecting our ocean is an equally important piece of keeping our planet habitable.
The ocean plays a critical role in global climate stability. Ocean creatures are vital strands in a delicate web of life that touches all of us. They are critical to coastal communities and economies, a potential source of game-changing medicines, and each plays a part in natural processes that help to regulate our climate.
Undermining ocean health to pursue potential mineral deposits is simply unnecessary. Demand for seabed minerals like nickel, copper, and cobalt is expected to level off or decline as clean energy technologies evolve and recycling capabilities improve. For example, batteries without seabed minerals now make up 36% of the electric vehicle market, and this is expected to increase to 60% by 2030.
In short, deep-sea mining is an unnecessary threat to our global climate, the stability of our oceans, and the economy that depends on them.
President Biden’s administration must make it clear that U.S. waters are not open for this destructive business. As nations gather to discuss the future of the industry, the Biden administration should join 25 other countries, including Canada and Mexico, in support of a global moratorium on deep-sea mining. For the sake of our ocean—and for all life on Earth that depends on it.
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Protecting the Blue Heart of Our Planet: A Call to Stop Deep-Sea Mining
The ocean is far more than a collection of resources to be exploited; it's a living, breathing entity that sustains life on Earth, and it's our duty to protect it.
Jul 17, 2024
In the bustling heart of New York City, where the pulse of global capitalism beats strongest, Greenpeace USA illuminated a towering LED Billboard with a crucial message for the Biden administration and investors: "Stop Deep-Sea Mining."
As an ocean campaigner with Greenpeace, every pixel of that display resonates with me as a beacon of hope in the ongoing battle to safeguard our oceans.
My connection to the ocean runs deep. From my childhood in Coastal California, where the ocean is a central part of our culture and economy, to the privilege I've enjoyed as a campaigner to explore its depths and sail its vast expanses, marveling at its mysteries and the incredible creatures that call it home, to the unparalleled joy of teaching my grandchildren to snorkel. The ocean is far more than a collection of resources to be exploited; it's a living, breathing entity that sustains life on Earth, and it's our duty to protect it.
With our oceans, climate, and planet facing crises, we cannot afford to take unnecessary risks with another ill-conceived and needlessly destructive industry.
And now our oceans, which have already been pushed to the brink, face a new and urgent peril: Deep-Sea Mining. Driven by the insatiable thirst for profit, this industry is poised to unravel the delicate tapestry of life in the most pristine ecosystem on our planet: the deep seas. This is one of the last places in the world that is largely untouched by human activity, a place where scientists are just now discovering thousands of new species, and it's crucial to all life on our planet. In its wake, deep-sea mining could collectively impact an oceanic area greater than the size of the continental U.S. and worsen the already critical state of the world's oceans.
Over 2.8 million people worldwide have signed the Greenpeace petition calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining because this is about more than just preserving habitats and safeguarding species—it's about protecting a part of ourselves.
We are not alone. The industry faces resistance from international investors and major banks, who have refused to fund deep-sea mining. Businesses such as Google, BMW, Volvo, and Renault have all called for a pause. Governments around the world, the United Nations human rights commissioner, fishing interests, battery manufacturers, Indigenous groups, and thousands of climate and youth activists have also raised objections. As a result, deep-sea mining didn't get the "green light" that was expected at an international meeting last year.
But the threat remains.
Today, as I stand in Times Square surrounded by flashy billboards, our call to protect the ocean stands alongside the seven-story Nasdaq Billboard where The Metals Company (TMC), a leading proponent of deep-sea mining, previously broadcast its entry as a Nasdaq-traded company, and I am reminded of the gravity of what's at stake. The ocean provides over 70% of the oxygen we breathe. It is an essential carbon sink that has helped us to regulate the climate even in the face of our increasing production of greenhouse gasses—buffering us from the worse impacts of climate change.
But it's what we don't know that should give us pause about launching an industry with irreversible impacts in a critical life-sustaining environment. Mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone could have unknown impacts on the ocean's carbon cycle. Extracting nodules, disrupting marine habitats, and generating sediment plumes from mining activities may disrupt carbon sequestration and hinder oxygen-producing processes.
This should worry investors buying into the industry's hyperbole of expected returns as, judging from the surge in climate change and biodiversity cases, they could face both litigation and business model risks. Countries, communities, and other stakeholders impacted by seabed mining—like fishing communities—can pursue their perceived losses in international, regional, and national courts.
Until recently, The Metals Company CEO Gerard Barron actively sought investment and political support, promoting seafloor polymetallic nodules as a pivotal resource for electric vehicles, dubbing them a "battery in a rock." However, with the evolution of battery technology diminishing the purported necessity for seafloor minerals coupled with a notable decline in metal prices, and after failing to persuade people that deep-sea minerals are needed to fight climate change, these reckless opportunists have turned their sights on the Pentagon. They are now exploiting geopolitical tensions as they cite China as an alternative market if the U.S. won't help them open the gates to the new extractive industry.
Recently, former military and government officials who should know better lent their names to a letter that supports the right thing for the wrong reasons. The letter, echoing The Metals Company's fear-mongering rhetoric, calls for the U.S. to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to spur the country's interest in deep-sea mining amid competition with China for critical minerals. There are numerous good reasons for the U.S. to ratify UNCLOS, and being able to vote for a moratorium on deep-sea mining should be at the top of that list.
Instead, The Metals Company is aiming to get deep-sea mining started, ignoring all the reasons not to, possibly because their Nasdaq stock price just hasn't been able to get back up since their bellowing beginning. They announced they will submit an application to begin commercial deep-sea mining following the meeting of the International Seabed Authority this month - even though the organization is very unlikely to adopt a regulatory framework to permit mining this year.
Rather than cowering to an aggressive company seeking to profit off devastating an ocean ecosystem we barely understand, the U.S. government should focus on its responsibility to extend protections for our oceans. Investing billions of dollars in an untested and destructive industry like deep-sea mining is not the answer. It's 2024, a time when prospectors are beginning to look out to other planets for new resources. We have already done so much damage to this blue planet we call Earth, the only place known to harbor life. Isn't it time to finally prioritize preserving the rich life-giving oceans that sustain us? Instead of deep-sea mining, a better choice would be supporting innovative technology and scaling the recycling and reuse of batteries and minerals that are already making this industry obsolete.
It doesn't make sense to destroy little-understood ecosystems just to add a small percentage of world metals production. Investors should be cautious against falling for the poorly veiled greenwashing narrative. With our oceans, climate, and planet facing crises, we cannot afford to take unnecessary risks with another ill-conceived and needlessly destructive industry.
We call on U.S. President Joe Biden to support a moratorium on deep-sea mining and join the other 27 countries that have opposed this industry. This will ensure that corporations like TMC do not destroy another global resource that belongs to us all.
The choices we make today will echo through the generations. Will we choose to exploit the depths of our oceans for profit and weapons of war, or will we unite to protect and preserve the precious blue heart of our planet? The power to decide lies in our collective hands.
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