In the dark depths of our oceans and inside closed-door boardrooms, a chapter full of controversies is unfolding. The search for precious metals at the bottom of the oceans, unexplored territory, raises concerns among scientists and environmentalists, as became clear recently when Norway became in the first country in the world to approve the exploration of its deep waters.
To date, more than 20 governments have called for a pause on international deep-sea mining, and more than 800 scientists and marine experts have signed a petition warning of environmental, social and economic risks. Critics warn that drilling in international waters not only endangers pristine environmental areas and privatizes resources that belong to humanity, but also exploits economically vulnerable countries in the global South. “Only a group of investors is benefiting from this covert privatization,” summarizes Andrew Whitmore, financial advisor to the NGO's deep sea mining campaign. Ocean Foundation.
Deep-sea mining primarily seeks polymetallic nodules: potato-sized rocks found more than 4,000 meters deep. They are known as “batteries in a rock” because they contain high percentages of components such as copper, cobalt, manganese or nickel, used in smartphone and computer batteries. The demand for these raw materials for the planet's ecological transition (electric car batteries, wind turbines, solar panels…) will double by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency, and some experts are already warning of a supply crisis for these metals green.
Whoever holds the keys to these world's marine treasures is a small, little-known autonomous institution that Opera as an arm of the UN on international seabed issues: the International Seabed Authority (ISA), based in Kingston, Jamaica. The institution was born almost 30 years ago with the purpose of “sustainably and equitably managing” the resources found in the depths of the ocean that go beyond the jurisdiction of each country.
In the last three decades, the ISA has issued more than 30 exploration contracts. These contracts allow private and public companies to carry out environmental research and test machinery for the extraction of certain minerals, which cannot be commercialized. This is a preliminary step to obtain a coveted commercial contract, which allows the exploitation of seabed resources in international waters. The ISA has not yet granted any of these commercial licenses: last July, internal negotiations ended without the green light for commercial exploitation, despite the support of countries such as Norway or Mexico. But the final vote will take place next year. And The Metals Company (TMC), an emerging company based in Canada, has the chance to be the first to obtain the first of these commercial contracts, followed by the Government of China, which today has five exploration contracts.
“Reserved areas” for equity
For now, the Authority has awarded eight exploration contracts to companies and developing countries to explore one of the richest areas of the seabed, the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ), in the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and Mexico, and which limits with the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga.
Between the areas of Nauru and Tonga in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone, TMC estimates there is enough nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese to electrify 280 million vehicles, equivalent to the entire US passenger vehicle fleet.
The CCZ is a deep-sea marine trench approximately the size of the European Union containing approximately 21 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules. Between the areas of Nauru and Tonga in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone, TMC estimates there are approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of nodules – enough nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese to electrify 280 million vehicles, equivalent to the entire vehicle fleet. of passengers from the United States. The Metals Company estimates that it will obtain more than 30,000 million dollars (about 27,546 million euros) in profits during the extraction project, which will last three decades.
To access some of the most profitable underwater square kilometers, private companies are subject to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which establishes a system, called “reserved areas,” aimed at ensuring that developing countries have access to deep seabed mineral resources and promoting equity. Nations that host these minerals are often vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal erosion and drought, and have very few opportunities for economic diversification. They depend on the outside for experience in this type of operations, for technology and for financial assistance. “It's a system that's prone to abuse,” says Pradeep Singh, an expert on ocean governance and climate policy and a fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany.
The system of so-called “reserved areas” is intended to ensure that developing countries have access to deep seabed mineral resources and promote equity
To meet this requirement, The Metals Company, for example, has partnered with three small Pacific island nations, Kiribati (131,000 inhabitants), Tonga (107,000) and Nauru (just 13,000), to explore and potentially exploit seabeds in search for metals. How will these future mining exploitations benefit small countries like these? It is not at all clear: the details of these agreements are not public and, for now, the distribution of benefits between rich nations and small islands has not been at the center of the discussions in the ISA, according to several experts consulted in Kingston in recent years. meetings of the International Authority, last July.
Private companies planning to exploit the seabed insist they will comply with the guidelines of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also sharing the revenue with Pacific nations. However, it is not yet clear how this new industry will impact low-income countries: the ISA has not yet started the debate on what exactly to do with the profits generated by mining exploitation.
A chain of people benefits from a resource that, by its very nature, should be considered a global common good. However, what they have done is create a system that effectively supports or privatizes it
Andrew Whitmore, financial advisor to the Deep Sea Mining Campaign
The TMC, for its part, assures that it plans to contribute to the local economies in the States that sponsor its operations, such as Nauru, with royalties per ton of nodules and with different investments. The experts consulted clarify, for their part, that it is difficult to know specific details, since the contracts between the companies and the sponsored States are not public. Asked about the exact distribution formula or the percentage of profits that will go to Pacific nations, Rory Usher, TMC spokesperson, emphasizes that the company does not yet have the figure because they have not started work in the area. “We expect to be probably the biggest contributor to Nauru's economy once we start first production,” he says.
Privatization of the seabed
In total, more than 60% of the contracts currently available between private actors and developing States in the CCZ have been reserved for two Western private companies, with agreements outside the public sphere with developing countries.
According to several experts consulted, this system results in privatization de facto of significant portions of the seabed made through artifice: essentially, certain governments can grant access to specific areas of the international seabed for mining, on the condition that the benefits are distributed to society as a whole. “[Este] It is essentially a link in a chain of people who benefit from a resource that, by its very nature, should be considered a global common good. However, what they have done is create a system that effectively supports or privatizes it,” says Andrew Whitmore, from the NGO Ocean Foundation.
Several governments and more than 760 scientists and marine experts from around the world have signed a petition calling for a pause or even a ban on deep sea mining.
The International Seabed Authority, the UN body, has several pending tasks, such as deciding how much of the revenue should be used by contractors as compensation to mining nations that experience losses due to deep-sea mining activities that affect its land mining operations. Or decide how many operations you authorize. The ISA did not respond to emails from this newspaper.
“For the ISA to be financially viable, it may need to approve a substantial number of mining activities. However, approving a large number of mining applications could lead to an undesirable situation where the ocean's capacity to support such activities is overwhelmed,” explains Pradeep Singh. “If deep-sea mining doesn't make sense from a benefit-sharing perspective, then it doesn't make sense to allow it at all,” says Singh, who has been focused on deep-sea mining policy research for seven years and also participated as observer at the last ISA meeting. “People need to understand that the mandate of the ISA is to make seabed mining happen,” declared one delegate at the July summit.
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