“The treasures are under water now. On the seabed the new war against rare metals»- Corriere.it

Sabotage without culprits on the Nord Stream1 gas pipeline, drones sinking Russian ships in the Black Sea: how important is diving becoming?

Strategic and relevant. Because the diver, with Space and Cyber, is one of the environments in which humanity will build its future – explains Luciano Violante, the former Speaker of the Chamber who now leads the Leonardo foundation which is very active on these issues -. The diver constitutes Borneo of the 21st century, the immense and unknown forest of Salgari’s novels. Less than 20% of the seabed is mapped with modern techniques and only 2% have updated cartography. This world is criss-crossed by precious infrastructures for life on earth; rich in raw materials; a domain of great importance for security and defense.

What infrastructures should we guard?

They can be categorized into three groups, primarily communication infrastructures; 99% of the information that reaches us via the Internet passes through 426 submarine cables that stretch for about 1.5 million kilometres. Energy ones; such as gas pipelines, oil pipelines, wellheads; these systems require accessory installations for control and maintenance activities. No less important are the infrastructures for the transport of electricity: these are high voltage cables, even hundreds of kilometers long, which guarantee the transport of electricity between the two shores of the mainland.

Who controls them and how should we do it?

We certainly need an authority of the Sea, an independent agency that monitors them. Even better if there was a European maritime agency, but on the other hand, even for ESA, the European space agency took years. And then allow me to remind you that the Old Continent is bathed by 5 seas with different needs and strategies and this ends up complicating the picture. Think of the diversity of perspectives between the Atlantic, the Arctic which is becoming increasingly central to shipping as the polar ice caps melt. Think of the Baltic, of our Mediterranean overlooking Africa and finally of the most delicate from a geopolitical point of view, the Black Sea.

With the climate emergency shouldn’t we have a strategy on Arctic routes?

Yes, we have to run for cover, because the Arctic is melting and Moscow is already setting up garrison bases. Think of the trade with China which at the moment largely involves the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. In the near future it could be much more convenient to have container ships pass through the North Pole. For this we need to have a European maritime policy.

Does it affect our independence, also severely tested by the scarcity of rare metals necessary for the tech supply chain and for the transition to electricity?

And here the diver can come to the rescue because there is a large basin of polymetallic nodules, composed of various elements such as iron and manganese, as well as copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and rare earths. Hydrothermal vents create deposits of sulfides, which contain industrially sought-after metals such as silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt and zinc. According to some forecasts, the value of the extractions at the end of this decade could be worth about 15 billion dollars.

Wouldn’t an independent supranational body be needed: a UN for raw materials? Otherwise we risk the war on hoarding

Not only that, there are also environmental implications. extracting these metals from the seabed could seriously damage deep-sea ecosystems about which we still know little. The rational use of marine resources cannot be confused with an abusive and indiscriminate hoarding of those resources. Therefore, a regulation of the matter should look at the type of governance of the user procedures, the technologies used, the risks for people’s safety, the consequences for the environment. The diver is interested in biotechnological research under different profiles. Many marine species live on the seabed in extremes of temperature, pressure, chemistry and darkness, conditions not found on land.

Are there repercussions for scientific research as well?

No doubt. In the depths there are species that show biological resistances that can prove to be decisive for the treatment of diseases that are still incurable today. Bio-farming practices are also being tested: these are biospheres anchored to the bottom of the sea and filled with thousands of liters of air, where agricultural crops are grown in a controlled atmosphere. Thanks to the almost constant sea temperature, the crops take advantage of a stable microclimate which, in addition to protecting the plants from attacks by insects and micro-organisms.

How is Italy positioned?

He currently uses it only for tourist-accommodation purposes. For we are catching up. The budget law for 2023 allocates two million euros a year for a national center of excellence in underwater research and innovation, under the supervision of the Navy, the most appropriate institution for its specific professional, ethical, scientific and cultural aptitudes . The next step should be the establishment of an Authority responsible for coordinating all the activities that take place in the underwater world, as for example France did a few years ago. Perhaps a contribution to the role of our country could also come from research being carried out by the Leonardo Civilt delle Macchine Foundation, with the decisive contribution of the Navy and the collaboration of scholars from Sapienza University and the CNR. We finally have a ministry and a minister of the sea.

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