Focus on Arts and Ecology

7 August 2024 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The event included two panel discussions.

The first panel addressed environmental aspects of deep-sea mining, related challenges and concerns, knowledge gaps, and potential recommendations for the G20.

The second panel focused on understanding the need to balance scientific and economic approaches to deep-sea mining and how this can be translated into legal provisions.

An event organized under Oceans20 (O20) – an initiative of the Brazilian presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) – brought together scientists and policymakers to explore the scientific, environmental, economic, and legal aspects of deep-sea mining. The event convened in the margins of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly, which elected Leticia Reis de Carvalho of Brazil as the new ISA Secretary-General. The ISA is expected to determine the direction of commercial deep-sea mining in the coming months.

Alexander Turra, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair for Ocean Sustainability, University of São Paulo, Brazil, highlighted the oceans as a transformative societal agent. “He underscored the ambition to create a permanent formal group of civil society engagement, map the stakeholders from different sectors, and ensure the legacy of the O20 process in the years to come,” the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary of the event notes.

Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the ISA, stressed the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s ocean-related priorities, including focus on marine spatial planning, coastal and ocean management, and ocean-related nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and climate action plans. Sending “a strong message in favor of the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans,” she said the ISA needs to adopt stringent environmental provisions and robust regulations on capacity building and technology transfer, transparency and accountability, fair and equitable benefit-sharing, and inspection, compliance, and enforcement.

The event included two panel discussions. The first panel addressed environmental aspects of deep-sea mining, related challenges and concerns, knowledge gaps, and potential recommendations for the G20. Speakers, inter alia, highlighted vast knowledge gaps, called for additional scientific tools for informed decision making, and noted the need to ensure coherence in ocean management across different international instruments.

The second panel focused on understanding the need to balance scientific and economic approaches to deep-sea mining and how this can be translated into legal provisions. Panelists highlighted the importance of robust environmental impact assessments (EIAs), underscored the challenges for developing countries to conduct scientific research and engage in deep-sea activities, and noted the difficulties of regulating the oceans because of economic interests and the appropriation of marine resources.

“Pradeep Singh, Fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, stressed the need to consider the environmental externalities of deep-sea mining, potential harm to the ocean’s natural capital, the need to develop equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms, and the implications of deep-sea mining for terrestrial mining,” ENB writes.

In concluding remarks, Turra stressed “the G20’s role in deep-sea mining discussions, the relevance of mineral security, and the need for more diverse voices and knowledge systems to be included in the international system.”

Titled, ‘Exploring Environmental, Economic, and Legal Aspects of Deep-sea Mining,’ the event convened on 1 August 2024. [ENB Coverage]

(Sources: International Institute for Sustainable Development)