Editorial | CARICOM and the deep seabed

At last month’s 30th Session of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica reaffirmed its support for a strong, rules-based regime for the mining of metals from the deep ocean floor.

“The determination of member states to develop a robust, fit-for-purpose regulatory regime for the sustainable use of the deep seabed is obvious, and Jamaica will continue to participate in its development,” said the island’s foreign minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, at the session’s opening.

Unfortunately, at the summit of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders in Montego Bay a fortnight earlier, chaired by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, the ISA and deep seabed mining seem not to have been on their agenda. At least, nothing about the issue appeared in their post-conference communiqué.

This newspaper believes that not only should the probability of deep seabed mining, proceeding outside of an international regulatory framework, command the attention of the heads of government, but that they should have issued a formal declaration expressing the community’s concern over this possibility.

It is, however, not too late for this to happen. Notwithstanding the distractions of an election campaign, Prime Minister Holness, as the current rotating chairman of CARICOM, should convene an urgent virtual meeting of the community to deal with the issue, and to craft a political statement in support of the ISA’s effort, which should be circulated to the global community.

Further, Jamaica, and any CARICOM member which may have ‘sponsored’ a company for a licence to do preparatory exploration of the deep seabed, must warn those firms that their support will be revoked if they proceed outside of, or take action that undermines the creation of, a global regulatory regime.

Other countries and regions should be invited to do the same thing.

COMMON HERITAGE OF MANKIND

This matter demands greater urgency and clear declarations from countries of like minds, in the face of the accelerated pace with which firms have been moving to grab the offer by the United States for untrammelled access to the deep seabed to mine for nodules containing critical metals and minerals, without, critics say, robust environmental rules for the well-being of poor countries.

The United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) declared the deep seabed and the world oceans outside the exclusive economic zones (EEZ), a common heritage of mankind.

For decades, it has been known that large swathes of the deep seabed, much of it unexplored or under-explored, are littered with nodules rich in minerals craved by modern technology, from batteries and solar panels to computer chips, satellites and high-powered weaponry.

But UNCLOS calls for mining of the deep seabed to be undertaken in an orderly and regulated fashion, overseen by the ISA, which is headquartered in Kingston. In keeping with the notion of the oceans as the common heritage of mankind, the ISA earmarked a 1.7-million-square-mile area – the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – between Mexico and Hawaii, for eventual deep seabed mining. Portions of the zone have been reserved for developing countries.

It has awarded licences to several states or state-sponsored companies (including Blue Minerals Jamaica) to conduct exploration in the zone. The ISA, however, has issued no mining permits while it drafts a mining code.

SURGE OF INTEREST

Decades ago, the United States, which has signed but not ratified the ISA agreement, issued its own licences for mining the deep seabed. But cost and technological challenges kept mining from taking place.

However, in April, President Donald Trump, concerned about China’s dominance in rare earth minerals – many of which are contained in the deep seabed’s polymetallic nodules – opened the way, through an executive order, for the accelerated exploration and mining of the deep ocean floors within US and international waters.

Since then, there has been a surge of interest from companies wanting to proceed under the US umbrella, including the US subsidiary of a Canadian outfit called The Mining Company (TMC), which was initially sponsored by the Pacific island nation of Nauru for an ISA licence. TMC now complains that the ISA is moving too slowly.

Further, once a proponent of a shift from fossil fuels and the need to protect the environment, TMC’s CEO, Gerrard Barron, is now an aggressive proponent of Washington’s initiatives, so as to “ensure the nation’s energy security and industrial competitiveness for generations”.

“China is close behind,” Barron warned recently.

Barron is not the only one hoping to cash in on President Trump’s action. Silicon Valley start-ups are also pressing for American deep seabed mining licences for areas in the Pacific around American Samoa. Additionally, Lockheed Martin, the aviation company, which gained mining licences in the 1980s, is reported to be willing to share them with other firms.

In April, Leticia Carvalho, the Brazilian secretary general of the ISA, warned that America’s action would “violate international law and undermine multilateral governance”.

In opening last month’s session of the ISA Assembly, she insisted that the “deep seabed needs rules”, adding: “In the context of the work of the International Seabed Authority, this means having regulations, and their requisite standards and guidelines, that will provide a clear road map for all future activities, aligned with our mandate to regulate and protect.”

CARICOM should reiterate that observation.