Countries failed to reach an agreement on a consolidated text on commercial deep sea mining regulations at the first part of the 29th Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), as metal companies are pressing to apply for permits even in the absence of a framework.

Over Mar. 18-29, delegates from 36 countries met in Kingston, Jamaica to discuss a 225-page draft of the mining code released in February by the ISA, the UN-affiliated intergovernmental body charged with regulating deep sea mining in high seas beyond national jurisdiction, as well as ensuring adequate protection of the marine environment.

On the final day of the meeting, delegates recognised that outstanding issues needed to go faster, as nations addressed one-third of the regulations in the text.

Should the document be agreed upon and adopted in the next rounds of negotiations in July, it could open oceans to the largest mining operation in history.

Researchers and conservationists warned that, unlike previous drafts, the latest one incorporated proposals bound to speed up the procedure of issuing commercial permits while weakening environmental protections.

To date, commercial seabed mining for critical minerals such as cobalt, manganese, and nickel is not permitted since too little is known about the deep sea ecosystem and the negative impact of drilling the seabed with large excavators.

Over the 10-day summit, organisations and hundreds of scientists urged countries not to rush deep sea mining plans, hold off on the agreement, and support a moratorium on the controversial practice until long-term studies have been carried out.

“The negotiations proceeded amid clashes between the states, and countries are far apart on agreeing on most things,” Matt Gianni, co-founder and political and policy advisor at the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), told journalists in an online briefing on Thursday.

“In many respects, they’re even farther apart than they were at the beginning of this week or at the end of the last negotiating session in November of last year.”

For instance, delegates are not aligned on how mining licenses should work, including how contractors should pay the ISA for the right to extract minerals, Gianni explained. There’s also much debate around the establishment of an environmental compensation fund to ensure against damage that may occur, with most countries arguing that a large amount of money has to be raised before any mining can begin.

According to the DSCC members who attended the meeting in Kingston, the environmental regulations are “very much up in the air”.

Under the Law of the Sea Convention, ISA must ensure the effective protection of the marine environment. However, for the time being, it is not clear how ISA could monitor damages driven by drilling operations.

To date, 25 countries have called for a moratorium, with Denmark joining that group during the ISA negotiations, claiming that the exploitation of deep seabed minerals “should not take place before the ISA has adopted a robust set of rules, regulations, and guidelines”.

By contrast, countries including China, India, Japan, and South Korea are pushing to speed things up, with some companies in the mining industry ready to begin excavations next year. In January, the Norwegian parliament voted to open up deep-sea mining in the Arctic region, becoming the first country to do so and drawing criticism from the EU in the process.

The US remains excluded from the negotiations despite its growing interest in the sector, as the country has not yet ratified the global treaty that chartered the ISA back in 1982.

DISCUSSIONS ON GREENPEACE

The meeting also discussed possible actions against Greenpeace, including stripping the organisation of its ISA observer status due to its protest in the eastern Pacific Ocean last November against mining firm The Metals Company (TMC).

“Having tried to silence opposition in the courts, TMC has now turned to trying to get the industry regulator to limit peaceful protest instead,” said Greenpeace International deep sea mining campaign lead, Louisa Casson, during a press briefing.

“We have seen calls from TMC and their subsidiaries for the ISA to take all measures available to try and prevent peaceful protests from happening and disrupting them. And they have found a willing participant in the secretary general of the ISA, Michael Lodge, who similarly tried to issue immediate measures to stop the protest.”

Lodge argued that Greenpeace activists posed “a threat of serious harm to the marine environment” by kayaking around the TMC vessel, which was collecting samples and data for mining permits.

However, according to Casson, most governments during the meeting opposed his stance, advocating for Greenpeace’s right to peaceful protest.

“We saw really strong pushback from a number of governments and a clear view from the Council that they do not want to take any measures. There were a number of strong statements from governments voicing concerns about the overreach of the secretary general,” she said.

A GLOBAL CONCERN

Experts and organisations have long cautioned companies that deep seabed mining could be not only harmful to the environment, but also unnecessary and with ‘poor’ market prospects.

A report released in March by the US-based Ocean Foundation warned against the dangers of engaging in the “volatile minerals markets”, due to the high financial risks related to technological challenges and possible damage to marine biodiversity.

A separate study by non-for-profit think tank Planet Tracker showed that betting on rare material extraction over biodiversity conservation is a financial mistake that could lead to a loss of $132 billion for the mining industry.

Furthermore, in a 2023 report, the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) questioned that the necessity of deep sea mining to meet the needs of rare minerals for renewable technologies and climate transition, with one of its members calling it ‘greenwashing’ in a press conference, Gianni noted.

“States should really be seeking to invest in a new pathway that focuses on not opening up a whole new extractive activity, but on developing circularity and making better use of the resources that have already been extracted, through, for instance, stopping programmed obsolescence,” Emma Wilson, policy officer at the DSCC, told journalists.

ALL EYES ON JULY

Despite this round of negotiations being busy, major decisions will only be made between July and August during the Assembly and Council meetings.

“That will be one of the most important moments in the history of ISA to date,” Wilson underlined. “We hope to see a discussion dedicated to the possibility of a moratorium or pause on deep sea mining that would possibly close the door on any exploitation until a number of conditions are fulfilled.”

In the summer, 168 members of the ISA Assembly will also choose who will succeed Lodge in heading the ISA Secretariat. Brazil, speaking on behalf of 29 Latin American and Caribbean member nations, has recently proposed its candidate, oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, who runs the marine and freshwater branch of the UN Environment Programme.

By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com

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