In Kingston, Jamaica, a secret ballot election was held earlier this month, with the governance of vast lands at stake. The consequences of this vote could be felt for generations to come. The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an intergovernmental body, has jurisdiction over more than half of the world’s ocean floor. For the past three decades, the ISA members have been working to create an international legal framework for potential deep-sea mining activities.
The deep ocean floor is a mysterious and slow-moving environment, home to some of the world’s oldest living organisms. Polymetallic nodules, often compared to potatoes in size and shape, contain valuable metals like cobalt, nickel, manganese, and copper. In the 1960s, the idea of mining these nodules gained traction, with the promise of cheaper access to these metals compared to terrestrial mining.
The United Nations issued the Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, declaring the seabed the “common heritage of mankind” and establishing the ISA to govern and regulate future seabed exploration and mining activities. Developing countries pushed for specific rights to be included in the treaty to prevent unequal resource exploitation.
Despite efforts from various American presidents, the U.S. has not ratified the UNCLOS treaty, preventing them from accessing mining concessions in international waters. The ISA began issuing exploration contracts in 2000, and in recent years, private companies have been awarded contracts for exploration.
There is a new argument for seabed mining to help fight global warming by providing minerals needed for the transition away from fossil fuels. However, critics warn that allowing seabed mining could lead to increased terrestrial mining and environmental degradation.
In 2021, The Metals Company, a Canadian mining venture, made a significant move to extract nodules from the ocean floor. The company’s application was sponsored by the Pacific microstate of Nauru, taking advantage of the ISA’s policy of holding surveyed areas in trust for developing nations.
The ISA’s former secretary-general, Michael Lodge, who was known for his push to start commercial mining, lost his bid for a third term in the recent election to Leticia Carvalho, a Brazilian oceanographer. Carvalho will now lead the ISA for the next four years.