On DR 32:
It is unacceptable for the contractor to be able to not reduce risk to the “point where the cost of further risk reduction would be grossly disproportionate to the benefits of such reduction, and taking into account the relevant Guidelines.” The environment should be effectively protected without cost being a consideration. Art 145 is not predicated on practicability or cost.
DSCC intervention on DR 2, paragraph 4
For Paragraph 4:
There would need to be a fundamental principle regarding the management of activities in the international seabed area being to ensure no loss of biodiversity, as well as additional references to obligations in Articles 145 and 194, and more recent global high level political commitments that we believe should be included in the paragraph drawing on Sustainable Development Goal 14, the calls to halt and reverse biodiversity made at Rio+20 and in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted by COP-15 and the COP-15 decision on marine and coastal biodiversity related to deep-sea mining. These include protecting rare or fragile ecosystems and their habitats, depleted, threatened or endanger species; that other forms of marine life will be also protected; and that there will be no interference with the ecological balance of marine ecosystems and with ecosystem services, degradation of their resilience, or other harmful effects to the marine environment including its biological diversity and ecological integrity;
These capture additional relevant obligations in UNCLOS and key political commitments made in regard to the protection of the marine environment and the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ
Para 4 of the Regulation should also refer, in particular, to the principles and approaches agreed in BBNJ in its Article 5 including:
(f) An integrated approach to ocean management;
(g) An approach that builds ecosystems resilience, including to adverse effects of climate change and ocean acidification, and also maintains and restores ecosystem integrity, including the carbon cycling services that underpin the ocean’s role in climate;
(h) The use of the best available science and scientific information;
(i) The use of relevant traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, where available;
(j) The respect, promotion and consideration of their respective obligations, as applicable, relating to the rights of Indigenous Peoples or of, as appropriate, local communities when taking action to address the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction;
And
(k) The non-transfer, directly or indirectly, of damage or hazards from one area to another and the non-transformation of one type of pollution into another, in taking measures to prevent reduce, and control pollution of the marine environment;
These are additional obligations and high level political commitments high level adopted more recently that should give greater substance and specificity to the obligations contained in article 145 of UNCLOS.
Thank you