The depths of the oceans as mines, at risk of habitat and biodiversity

Mining companies around the world are preparing a new “gold rush” to exploit the resources found on the bottom of the oceans around the planet essential to pursuing the energy transition, but the risk of an unprecedented destruction of marine life and oceanic habitats is very concrete. “This is real violence,” says the marine biologist Diva Amon.

While many look to the stars as the “next frontier”, over 80% of the world’s oceans remain unexplored, and the creatures that inhabit them still remain a mystery. Technology has opened up previously impossible depths, from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that can travel about 10 kilometers below the surface, to submersibles (or submarines). Originally from Trinidad, Amon used submarines to explore the Bahamasthe Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Cayman Trench, descending to maximum depths of 2.6 kilometers, working up to nine hours in close contact with the other crew members. The abundant life found in the deep oceans is a world away from the arid environment many people might imagine.

“It is an unholy idea – explains Amon, who is part of the executive of the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative – it is by no means lifeless. The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on the planet, 96% of all habitable space on Earth, therefore a huge biodiversity reservoir. As you descend, you see deep marine life, from bioluminescent fireworks to ethereal lunar landscapes. There are hundreds of thousands of species in the deep sea, most of which have not yet been discovered. They are unlike anything we’ve seen before: from luminous sharks to hairy white crabs that are able to grow bacteria on their bodies, and then eat them.It’s amazing to know you’re among the first people to see a species, an ecosystem, and this happens almost every time we go down to the deep sea. But you’re not there for a ride. There’s a lot at stake. You have to put aside the wonder and awe and get the job done.”

The gold rush at the bottom of the ocean

The mining companies have long looked to the enormous opportunities arising from deep-sea mining, but the debate over the future of the world’s oceans has now become a race against time. In June 2021, the Pacific island republic Nauru has activated a legal mechanism, known as the “two-year rule”, on behalf of the company Nauru Offshore Resources Inc (NORI), a subsidiary of the mining giant The Metals Company. There two-year rule would allow industrial-scale mining of large areas of seabed in international waters as early as July 2023. TheInternational Seabed Authority (ISA), established in 1994 by the United Nations, now has less than a year to establish complex rules governing the deep-sea mining industry. Made up of 167 Member States and the European Union, the ISA has the task of regulating and monitoring all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area and has a duty to ensure the protection of deep-sea habitats. But if the ISA is unable to establish regulations in that time frame, the mining companies will be able to move forward under any rules or guidelines in effect at that time.

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Scientists, environmental groups, indigenous communities, industry leaders and businesses agree that such a tight deadline does not allow enough time to conduct research to understand deep ocean environments or the damagedeep sea mining would cause, such as pollution, water contamination, massive motion and sound disturbances, species extinctions, habitat destruction, damage to global fish populations, and a reduction in the effectiveness of the oceans in moderating the planet’s climate. For this reason, more than 650 scientists and policy experts from over 400 countries have called for a universal stop, in order to better study the issue.

“No mining has happened yet,” Amon explains. “To date, they have been granted 31 exploration licenses, and it was done before we knew what exactly lives in those areas. We’re seeing planned mining areas in three of the world’s oceans, and over huge areas, some large ones 75,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of Sri Lanka. There is no regulatory framework and the opinion of science is lacking. We know there will be loss habitat and of biodiversity, but what will be the knock-on impacts? We know that the deep sea plays an essential role in climate regulation, in the fisheries trusted by billions of people. There is a huge risk in rushing forward.”

Energy transition at the expense of the oceans?

The mining companies, however, are hoping to start work as soon as possible. In addition to profits, the ever-increasing need for minerals available in the depths of the sea, such as copper, cobalt, nickel And manganeseelements paradoxically essential to a transition to a greener planet, as they are needed to build things like electric car batteries and wind turbines.

“The process under discussion for mining is not green at all,” Amon points out. “It will result in a loss of biodiversity and habitat on a scale never seen before in the ocean. This damage will be irreversible. Mining the deep sea for metals to stem the climate crisis would be like smoking to release stress.”

There Deep Sea Conservation Coalitiona group of more than 100 international organizations, including Greenpeace, Oceana, SharkLife and Save Our Seas, has called on the ISA to accept a global moratorium on deep-sea mining, with talks taking place in Jamaica earlier this year, with more planned over the next 12 months, as the Nauru-imposed deadline looms.

Most commercial interest is currently focused on mining in the deep abyssal plains of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) 4,000-6,000 meters below the surface in the eastern Pacific Ocean, between the Mexico and the Hawaii. Seventeen of ISA’s 31 exploration contracts are for nodes in this region. ISA has awarded two contracts for exploration in the central Indian Ocean and the northwest Pacific.

“The three main types of deep sea mining considered by the ISA: deep seabed nodule mining, hydrothermal vent deposits (for gold, silver, copper and zinc) e removal of “iron-manganese cobalt crusts” from seamount sides – it would be devastating to marine life,” he says Matthew Gianni, co-founder and policy advisor for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “Every mining operation would involve the strip mining over an area of ​​approximately 10,000-12,000 square kilometers of seabed over the course of a 30-year mining license. A single mining license will likely generate sediment harmful to marine life on tens of thousands of square kilometers of seabed. Discharge of sediment and wastewater from collection vessels could travel hundreds of kilometers across the ocean, potentially impacting fish, migratory species as whales And sea ​​turtles and others present in deep waters. There loss of biodiversity would be inevitable and permanent if deep-sea mining were allowed.”

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The areas under discussion are far away, in international waters, and do not fall under the jurisdiction of any single country. “No nation owns territories in the international seabed area,” explains Gianni. “Under international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction is designated as ‘common heritage of humanity’. It belongs to all of us, and ISA is obligated to act on behalf and for the benefit of humanity as a whole.”

UN in impasse

At the United Nations Ocean Conference in Portugal in June 2022, Palau, Fiji and Samoa became the first countries to formally request aglobal alliance to advocate for a moratorium on deep sea mining. They also took sides in favor of the moratorium Vanuatu And Dominican Republicto which other countries have joined such as Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Micronesia, New Zeland, Panama And Spain, evidently concerned about the ecosystems at the gates of their own countries. “This announcement is important because it initiates what can become a political process towards organized action in the United Nations system, including the ISA,” he explains Taholo KamiPacific Ocean Consultant for the Waitt Institute.

Meanwhile, on March 31, the UN concluded two weeks of meetings on the subject without reaching an agreement on the rules that should guide the extraction of minerals from the seabed, but the process that will lead the ISA to approve the requests of permission for the exploitation of underwater mines does not stop. So 24 days of negotiations in Kingston were not enough Jamaicato find an agreement. Nauruthe cook islands and the China who strongly push to pass the deep sea mining. China, in particular, is one of the countries that most pushes for the diversification of supplies raw material necessary for the energy transition.

Also last month, delegates from United Nations however, they accepted and, more importantly, signed a treaty on the high seas. The high seas make up two-thirds of the ocean and cover almost half of the planet. The new treaty aims to help place the 30% of seas in protected areas by 2030, to protect and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. But the negotiations do not stop the process and most of the sessions are behind closed doors, so many environmentalists contest its transparency and the risk that economic interests will prevail is very high.

“The two-year rule was meant to be a safety valve in case negotiations reach an impasse. It was not meant to impose arbitrary deadlines on substantive and bona fide negotiations,” he says Jessica Battleresponsible of No Deep Seabed Mining of the WWF. “The world must not be pushed into a destructive new extractive industry by a reckless few who want to profit.”