Governments and companies are lining up to begin mining for metals and minerals in the world’s oceans, endangering some of Earth’s most important ecosystems, according to a new Greenpeace report.
Environmentalists warns that the fledgling deep-sea mining industry not only risks destroying vast regions of the ocean floor, but could also make the climate emergency worse.
So what’s happening?
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A Greenpeace investigation found that the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations body, has issued a total of 29 exploration licences to countries including the UK, China, France, Belgium, India, Germany and Russia, which are sponsoring corporate contractors.
The licences apply to areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and cover a total 500,000 square miles - “five times bigger than the UK”, reports The Guardian.
The British government holds licences to exploit more of the international seabed than any state apart from China.
Mining can begin after regulations are agreed, with the ISA expecting to have concluded negotiations by July 2020.
Once those regulations are in place, large machines will be lowered to the seabed to excavate rare metals, such as cobalt.
The deep-sea mining industry says that extracting these metals is essential to efforts to transition to a green economy, providing the raw materials for key technologies including batteries, computers and phones in a less harmful manner than most existing mining operations.
What does Greenpeace say?
Greenpeace has warned that the mining can cause “severe and potentially irreversible” environmental harm, reports the Financial Times.
“The health of our oceans is closely linked to our own survival. Unless we act now to protect them, deep-sea mining could have devastating consequences for marine life and humankind,” Louisa Casson, an ocean campaigner at Greenpeace, told The Guardian.
The organisation is calling for “tighter environmental safeguards”, such as international agreement on a UN treaty to put conservation at the heart of ocean governance, reports Mining Weekly.
Environmentalists warn that the proposed mining would threaten not only crucial ecosystems, but also the global fight to prevent climate warming.
As well as destroying little-understood regions of the ocean floor, the operations threaten to disrupt and release carbon stored in deep sea sediments.
In an article for The Guardian, environmentalist Chris Packham writes: “We’ve already seen the huge destruction ravaged upon our planet by corporations mining on land. Are we really prepared to give the go-ahead to the mining industry expanding into a new frontier, where it will be even harder for us to scrutinise the damage caused?”
What has the UK government said?
The Government has awarded deep-sea exploration licences to a subsidiary of weapons giant Lockheed Martin.
“The UK continues to press for the highest international environmental standards, including on deep sea mineral extraction,” a government spokesperson said. “We have sponsored two exploration licences, which allows scientific marine research to fully understand the effects of deep sea mining and we will not issue a single exploitation licence without a full assessment of the environmental impact.”
In 2013, then-PM David Cameron promised that deep-sea mining would generate £40bn for the UK over the next 30 years.
Greenpeace says it is unclear how this figure was reached, and points out that in 2017 the National Subsea Research Initiative, a research body, warned government advisors of the potential environmental damage to the seabed.
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
