This month: The ocean contains minerals needed for clean energy. But how will mining them impact the environment?
3 Aug 2022
News
3 Aug 2022
Authours: Nick Bainton and Emilka Skrzypek
Plundering the Pacific for its rich natural resources has a long pedigree. Think of the European companies strip-mining Nauru for its phosphate and leaving behind a moonscape.
There are worrying signs history may be about to repeat, as global demand soars for minerals critical to the clean energy transition. This demand is creating pressure to extract more minerals from the sensitive lands and seabeds across the Pacific. Pacific leaders may be attracted by the prospect of royalties and economic development – but there will be a price to pay in environmental damage.
3 Aug 2022
Solomon Islands authorities have expressed caution as they make future approvals for deep sea mining projects in the country, local newspaper Solomon Star reported on Tuesday.
1 Aug 2022
Author: Elizabeth Claire Alberts, Mongabay
Delegates of the International Seabed Authority are currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, to negotiate a set of rules that would pave the way for a controversial activity: mining the seabed for coveted minerals like manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt and zinc.
But scientists and conservationists say there are considerable transparency issues at the meetings that are restricting access to key information and hampering interactions between member states and civil society.
30 Jul 2022
Author: Olivia Rosane
Do we really need to put ocean ecosystems at risk in order to transition to a renewable-energy economy? Proponents of deep-sea mining claim that the as-yet-untested practice is the best means of supplying minerals like cobalt, lithium, nickel, copper, vanadium and indium used in electric vehicles, storage batteries and other green technologies.
29 Jul 2022
You can find the full Interventions submitted by the DSCC below.
Available in English.
29 Jul 2022
KINGSTON (IANS)—Negotiations have begun to develop a mining code that, if adopted, could see the largest extractive operation in human history begin in the deep sea.
But as negotiations get underway in week two of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the chorus of concern surrounding the emerging industry has amplified.
29 Jul 2022
FSM brings moratorium position on deep sea mining to the International Seabed Authority as negotiations have begun to develop a ‘risky’ mining code.
29 Jul 2022
Source: Environmental Justice Foundation
Author: EJF staff
Despite widespread opposition from around the globe, we may be on track to see the first deep sea mining within a year. Governments must stand up for the ocean and impose a moratorium.
28 Jul 2022
Authours: by Raphaël Deberdt, Philippe Le Billon
The electrification of our livelihoods, in particular the development of electric vehicles, will require massive amounts of minerals including nickel, cobalt and manganese, which are all found in huge quantities on the seafloor. Deep-seabed mining (DSM) could not only help scale up the supply of minerals needed for phasing out of fossil fuels but also prevent some of the destructive fallout of future land-based mining.