Minerals

The Issue: Deep-seabed mining has been proposed as an alternative source of minerals, with large deposits present both within and beyond national jurisdictions. In areas beyond national jurisdiction, the International Seabed Authority is mandated by the United Nations to organise, regulate and control mineral-related activities for the benefit of humankind as a whole, as well as to ensure effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects that may arise from such activities. Current challenges to robust protection of the remote deep sea include, for example, the scarcity of environmental baseline data and the lack of thresholds for harmful effects. Proactive development and implementation of comprehensive management practices, frameworks, and policies prior to the onset of mining are needed to ensure the protection of deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem function.

The Working Group: The DOSI Minerals working group (180 experts) constitutes a broad spectrum of scientific, industry, economic, conservation, legal and policy expertise. As collated working group responses and as individuals, we provide expert opinion on deep-seabed mining related concerns through written responses, policy briefs, publications, side-events, interventions, workshops and symposia.

Current Activities: The Minerals Working Group is participating in the 29th ISA Council meeting. The second part of that meeting is taking place this July. Among our other activities, the Minerals Working Group is sharing an Information Sheet explaining the challenges associated with different options for mitigating the impact of deep-sea mining. The new Information Sheet was produced in partnership with DEEP REST. We are also sharing a new DOSI Policy Brief on the topic of introducing a « sufficient information requirement » for deep-sea mining.

Read our participation report from the First Council meeting of the 29th session of the ISA in Kingston, Jamaica (March 2024)