Deep-Sea Mining Up for Discussion: UN Seabed Authority Tackles Contentious Issues in Kingston
Deep Sea Mining Negotiation Pushed Forward by United Nations Seabed Authority - The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) will persist in its endeavors to negotiate accords concerning deep-sea mining.
In the realm of deep-sea resource management, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) assumes a crucial role, with a mandate to safeguard valuable marine minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and copper, found in polymetallic nodules, crusts, and sulfides. With escalating tech industry demand, the UN body has been engaged in negotiations for a regulatory framework for deep-sea mining since 2014.
The current debate centers around the Mining Code, an extensive yet unfinished document riddled with proposed amendments, disagreements, and comments enclosed within brackets. Moreover, there are numerous suggested modifications from countries, corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. Emma Wilson, representing the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, reports that resolving these disagreements remains an elusive goal, with over 2000 textual elements still under discussion.
This meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, hosted from March 17 to 28, 2025, brings together undersecretaries from 36 out of the ISA's 169 member states. A pressing deadline looms as The Metals Company (TMC), backed by Nauru, eyes a June application for the initial Pacific Ocean seabed mining license. TMC plans to extract polymetallic nodules containing manganese, cobalt, copper, and nickel for electric vehicle battery production in the coming year.
Yet, scientists and environmental groups fear that these mining activities could irrevocably devastate pristine underwater ecosystems. Their concerns are echoed by an ever-growing chorus of countries advocating for a temporary halt on deep-sea mining.
As the ISA finds itself under mounting pressure to facilitate mining applications despite an undecided regulatory framework, environmental preservation and scientific understanding remain the key challenges in navigating this complex, politically charged landscape.
- Seabed
- Copper
- Kingston
- Jamaica
Insights
The current negotiations are taking place under the leadership of Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho, a shift from previous administrations. The draft Mining Code is under intense scrutiny for its lack of comprehensive environmental safeguards, specifically in the areas of benefit-sharing mechanisms, contractor liability, and environmental protection policies. Numerous organizations, including the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and WWF, are advocating for a moratorium on deep-sea mining until more is understood about its impacts and until robust environmental protection measures are in place.
Though copper extraction is a crucial aspect of deep-sea mining due to its importance in renewable energy technologies, the current negotiations do not focus specifically on copper-related changes or disagreements. However, broader concerns about environmental impacts and regulatory shortcomings apply to all minerals, including copper.
Mining companies continue to apply pressure for swift approval processes, while those advocating for a precautionary approach resist these demands. Significant gaps in scientific knowledge of the deep sea and concerns about the draft Mining Code's regulatory flaws have further complicated the negotiations.
The negotiations on the Mining Code are taking place in Kingston, Jamaica, under the leadership of Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho. This crucial meeting aims to ensure that the Community's fishing fleet will be able to comply with fishing rules, since the seabed, where the fishing takes place, is also the site planned for copper extraction by companies like TMC. Despite copper's importance in renewable energy technologies, the current discussions do not focus specifically on copper-related changes or disagreements, but rather on broader concerns about environmental impacts and regulatory shortcomings that apply to all minerals.
