{"id":1131614,"date":"2023-07-13T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=613663"},"modified":"2023-07-13T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T10:45:00","slug":"international-negotiators-just-missed-a-deadline-to-regulate-deep-sea-mining-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/07\/13\/international-negotiators-just-missed-a-deadline-to-regulate-deep-sea-mining-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"International negotiators just missed a deadline to regulate deep-sea mining. Now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This month, a small group of diplomats<\/a> is meeting to hash out a plan that could affect the future of nearly half<\/a> of Earth\u2019s surface \u2014 including regions containing metals that are vital for the energy transition, like nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That group is the International Seabed Authority<\/a>, or ISA, an autonomous international organization tasked with regulating mining on the ocean floor, in waters outside any nation\u2019s jurisdiction. On July 9, the regulatory body missed an important legal deadline to finalize those rules. Now the ISA is scrambling to complete them, or agree to a fall-back plan, before companies start applying for deep-sea mining permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stakes in this regulatory race are high. Some deep-sea ecosystems are rich in metals used in electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. To transition off fossil fuels, the world needs to dig up enormous quantities of these metals, and deep-sea mining proponents say that can be done with less impact on the ocean floor than on land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A low-impact mining industry is unlikely to materialize in the absence of ISA rules governing environmental standards and oversight. However, if a company submits a commercial deep-sea mining application before the ISA completes those rules \u2014 officially called the Mining Code<\/a> \u2014 the agency will be legally obligated to consider the request nonetheless. Some industry watchdogs fear this will trigger a literal race to the bottom, in which companies destroy fragile seafloor ecosystems in the pursuit of profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a catastrophic outcome is far from assured. Pradeep Singh, an ocean law expert at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam<\/a> who attends the ISA meetings and advises governments on deep-sea mining, says member nations have rallied behind the idea that there must be regulations in place before any deep-sea mining companies are given the go-ahead \u2014 and that there are several options on the table to ensure that outcome. States, Singh said, are starting to ask: \u201cDo we really want to rush this process for the benefit of one private mining company?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Singh is referring to The Metals Company<\/a>, the Canadian mining firm at the center of the high seas hullabaloo. In the summer of 2021, the Pacific Island nation of Nauru gave the ISA notice that a subsidiary of the firm, which Nauru is backing as a state sponsor, intended to submit an application to begin deep-sea mining. The Metals Company is one of 18 commercial or state-backed entities<\/a> that have received exploration permits from the ISA to test technology, take samples, and investigate the overall resource potential of deep-sea rocks called polymetallic nodules, in areas that each span nearly 30,000 squares miles<\/a>. No company has been granted a contract to mine underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n