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Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, speaks during the plenary session of the COP28 UN Climate Summit in the United Arab Emirates on December 9, 2023.
photo: AP/Kamran Jabreili
Vanuatu has played a leading role among many countries in efforts to put marine environmental protection on the main agenda of the United Nations organization responsible for setting global rules for seabed mining.
The Kingston-based International Seabed Authority Assembly held a packed session this week, including a vote to elect the next secretary-general who could have a major impact on environmental limits on mining.
Deep-sea mineral mining is particularly controversial in the Pacific, where some economically backward island nations see it as a potential windfall and a solution to their fiscal challenges, but many others strongly oppose it.
Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu told a meeting of the International Seabed Authority’s 168 member states and the European Union that environmental policy was “critical” because the body was likely to receive applications for approval of commercial seabed mining by the end of the year.
Michael Lodge, Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (right), poses for a group photo at the 29th Assembly of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 29, 2024.
photo: BenarNews/Stephen Wright
In his speech, Regenvanu explicitly targeted Pacific island nations that support deep-sea mining, saying: “As you deliberate in the coming days, I ask you to think beyond your national borders, as guardians of the oceans, and take into account the very real threat that seabed mining poses to the Pacific region.”
“Economic exploitation of the ocean may bring benefits to our country in the next decade, but it could have devastating consequences for future generations,” he said.
Golf-ball-sized metal nodules scattered across the seabed are being hailed as a source of rare earth minerals needed for green technologies such as electric vehicles as the world reduces its reliance on fossil fuels.
Skeptics say such minerals are already abundant on land and warn that mining the seabed could cause irreparable damage to an environment that is not yet well understood by science.
Opponents of deep-sea mining have been urging the ISA to prioritize protecting the marine environment at its general assembly, rather than leaving environmental issues to be discussed within its smaller policy-making committees. Some see such a policy as a prerequisite for an international moratorium on deep-sea mining in the vast ocean areas outside national borders that fall under the ISA’s jurisdiction.
In addition to Vanuatu, several countries including Spain, Chile and Canada have also expressed support for the General Assembly to start discussing environmental policies.
China, which has a strong voice in the ISA, reiterated its reservations due to the packed agenda but said it was willing to be flexible. Saudi Arabia was among the countries that criticized the proposal put forward by Vanuatu and seven other countries but did not formally express opposition.
The assembly is also expected to vote on a candidate for ISA secretary-general. Long-serving incumbent Michael Lodge has been criticised by groups such as Greenpeace, who say he sides with deep-sea mining companies rather than a neutral technocrat.
The British lawyer’s candidacy is backed by the pro-mining Pacific nation of Kiribati and faces Brazil’s Leticia Carvalho, a Brazilian oceanographer and former oil industry regulator who has also been critical of his leadership.
Vanuatu also made a strong showing at this conference, blocking two organizations with ties to deep-sea mining companies from obtaining NGO observer status with the International Seabed Authority.
Regenvanu told the assembly that one of the groups was formed by a subsidiary of a metal company that had been testing its equipment to suck up metal nodules from the seafloor.
Metals is working with the Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga to potentially develop its licensed areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The 4.5 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles) area in the central Pacific Ocean is regulated by the ISA and contains trillions of metallic nodules at depths of up to 5.5 kilometers.
Nauru notified the Seabed Authority in June 2021 of its intention to start mining, meaning the authority’s member states have two years to finalize regulations.
At the same time, the Cook Islands allows other companies to conduct nodule exploration in its waters without the need for approval from the International Seabed Authority.
Sonny Williams, assistant minister to the Cook Islands prime minister, told the conference that the Cook Islands was acting prudently to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.
The Odysseus 6K remotely operated submersible photographed on January 5, 2022 can dive to a depth of 6,000 meters for deep-sea mineral exploration.
photo: Business News
“Deep seabed minerals offer enormous potential for our prosperity. To unlock and develop this potential we must do so responsibly and sustainably, prioritizing the long-term well-being of our people,” he said.
Greenpeace deep-sea mining campaigner Louisa Carson said the International Seabed Authority Assembly would not complete the complex process of agreeing on deep-sea mining rules at this meeting.
She told reporters that non-governmental organizations and governments that want a cautious approach to deep-sea mining hope the General Assembly meeting will lead to incremental progress towards a moratorium on mining. Bernal News.
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