It is in Jamaica, in Kingston, that the future of the seabed will be played out. The Council of the International Seabed Authority (AIFM) is meeting there for a month to discuss the regulations that will govern deep-sea mining in international waters.
At the same time, environmentalists are trying to prevent the launch of this industry, which is currently the subject of legal uncertainty. Indeed, since July 9, a company can freely apply to the AIFM for a commercial operating license, which was impossible until then. Back to an international legal imbroglio.
It all starts in Nauru, a tiny island state in the heart of the Pacific. In the summer of 2021, the micro-state which was eyeing the seabed of the ocean that surrounds it triggered a clause, with the AIFM, to obtain a mining code within two years. The latter, which has been in the works for many years, was to regulate underwater mining in areas outside national jurisdictions. While scientific and industrial exploration of the seabed was previously authorized there, mining was not. These spaces are classified as “common heritage of humanity” and were therefore protected.
However, the deadline for drafting the mining code has passed. The Council of the institution, which brings together 36 countries elected by the 168 members, did not manage to draft it in time, thus leaving the possibility for any company to make a request for exploitation. And the AIFM will be obliged to take them into account.
This is “a critical moment for the Authority”, thus launched the representative of Chile at the opening of the session of the Council of the AIFM in Kingston, reports AFP. “We cannot authorize exploitation activities in the Zone (ocean floor, editor’s note) until the appropriate rules, regulations and procedures are in place”, he insisted, asking for a “precautionary break”.
Faced with the legal vagueness, environmental NGOs are concerned. “From now on, the barriers that separate the incredible richness of the biodiversity of the abyss and the bulldozers in search of metals, hang by a thread”, denounced Monday July 10 in a press release François Chartier, of Greenpeace.
The international organization has also launched a petition against the exploitation of the seabed. The latter, which according to the website would have gathered nearly 294,493 signatures, denounces a risk of “looting” and “plowing”. “France must actively position itself for a moratorium on the mining of the seabed, and against a mining code, in order to block an international agreement”, can we read there.
At a previous meeting of the AIFM Council in March 2023, France had already called, in a press release to a broad coalition, declaring that “the state of scientific knowledge on deep-sea ecosystems” was “still grossly insufficient” and that it posed “risks of irreversible damage”. The NGOs also insist on the risks of direct destruction of habitats and species. They also explain that these industrial activities could disrupt the ability of the ocean to absorb the carbon emitted by human activities or even interfere with the noise of the communications of species such as whales, reports AFP.
To get out of this situation, around twenty countries, including France, are proposing a moratorium. According to AFP, Chile, France, Palau and Vanuatu aim to take the fight to the political level and convince other states to plead this cause. For the first time, the Assembly of the Authority’s 168 member states, meeting July 24-28, will discuss a “precautionary pause” from mining.
Others insist on the need to finish the mining code like the general secretary of the AIFM Michael Lodge. “We have (…) the unique opportunity to do well and we must invest our time and our energy in this process”, declared the Briton, who regularly defends himself to be pro-industry as accused by NGOs , reports AFP.