Environmental balance of mining from seafloor (original) (raw)
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2021
The rapidly increasing global populations and socio-economic development in the Global South have resulted in rising demand for natural resources. There are many plans for harvesting natural resources from the ocean floor, especially rare metals and minerals. However, if proper care is not taken, there is substantial potential for long-lasting and even irreversible physical and environmental impacts on the deep-sea ecosystems, including on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This paper reviews the literature on some potentials and risks to deep seabed mining (DSM), outlining its legal aspects and environmental impacts. It presents two case studies that describe the environmental risks related to this exploitative process. They include significant disturbance of the seabed, light and noise pollution, the creation of plumes, and negative impacts on the surface, benthic, and meso- and bathypelagic zones. The study suggests some of the issues interested companies should consider in ...
Marine Policy, 2018
, the International Seabed Authority has issued a total of 100 mandatory requirements (published between 2011 and 2015) as guidance for potential future miners when collecting data for their environmental baseline studies during the exploration phase. An in-depth analysis of all current requirements highlights twelve themes covered by multiple requirements: methodology for seabed sampling, methodology for water column sampling, statistical evidence, spatio-temporal considerations, toxicology, modelling needs, genetic studies, species-specificity, documentation and archival storage, impact-related studies, area-based management tools, and comparison and assessment. Within each theme, the relevant requirements are compared with each other to allow a comprehensive assessment of the research effort needed to satisfy all of the 100 requirements.
Integrated environmental assessment and management, 2018
Deep-sea mining refers to the retrieval of marine mineral resources such as manganese nodules, ferromanganese crusts and seafloor massive sulfide deposits, which contain a variety of metals that serve as crucial raw materials for a range of applications, from electronic devices to renewable energy technologies to construction materials. With the intent of decreasing dependence on imports, supporting the economy and potentially even overcoming the environmental problems related to conventional terrestrial mining, a number of public and private institutions have re-discovered their interest in exploring the prospects of deep-sea mining, which had been deemed economically and technically unfeasible in the early 1980 s. To date, many national and international research projects are grappling to understand the economic environmental, social and legal implications of potential commercial deep-sea mining operations: a challenging endeavor due to the complexity of direct impacts and spill-o...
Sustainable Seabed Mining and the Phase 1 Environmental Standards and Guidelines
Australian Yearbook of International Law, 2023
The oceans are home to a rich diversity of plant and animal life and a source of food and marine resources that drive economies. Climate change and pollution are changing ocean dynamics and the ability to support life. Seabed mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction will add to the ocean's stressors and could cause severe environmental damage. The International Seabed Authority (“ISA”) is mandated to manage access to and benefits from the seabed, its subsoil and mineral resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the “Area”). Although the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea sets out the legal framework for developing the Area and its resources, it does so in broad terms and leaves substantial gaps. These gaps include the scope of activities in the Area, the interrelationship of international obligations, the division of responsibilities between the ISA and sponsoring states, and the regulation of the mining system in situ. To partially fill these gaps, the ISA has drafted a set of “Phase 1” Standards and Guidelines under the Draft Regulations on Exploitation of Mineral Resources in the Area. This paper investigates and critiques five environmental Draft Standards from a precautionary and comparative law perspective. Phase 1 standards and guidelines should adopt a more rigorous interpretation of the precautionary principle. Additional recommendations include creating enhanced governance processes and incorporating an ecosystem-based framework for regional environmental assessments and management plans not present in Draft Standards. This research will assist academics, practitioners, governments, and the ISA with policies and strategies to enhance environmental and social protections from seabed mining.
Challenges to the sustainability of deep-seabed mining
Nature Sustainability
he deep-sea floor (below 200 m) is presently, along with Antarctica, the only area on Earth where mineral resources are not currently extracted commercially 1. However, the twenty-first century has seen rising concerns over the depletion of the most readily available and highest-grade ores of selected minerals on land, as well as increasing vulnerabilities to political control over resource access 2-4. Demand for some minerals is also projected to increase, particularly from electrification of the transport sector and renewable energy generation 5-8. A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report indicates that 70-85% of all electricity would need to come from renewable sources by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 °C 9. These factors, combined with the development of a governance structure for international mineral resources established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its 1994 Implementing Agreement, have led to renewed interest in deep-seabed mining 4,10. Many metals occur together at economically interesting concentrations in the deep ocean. These include copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, silver and gold, as well as lithium and rare-earth elements (Table 1). The metals are found in different ore types in different settings (Fig.
Does the International Community Have Efforts to Protect the Marine Environment from Seabed Mining?
Sriwijaya Law Review
Through the United Nations, the international community is seriously paying attention to the use of seabed areas as regulated by the Law of the Sea Convention 1982, which states that the area and its resources are the common heritage of humankind. The 1994 Agreement has implemented chapter XI. The resources are relating to the state's interests in terms of energy exploration and environmental impact aspects. An increasing need for global electronic products by many countries in which of the components are rare minerals. Various minerals such as manganese, polymetallic nodules, and polymetallic sulphur are lying down in the seabed. However, seabed also had an essential role in keeping the marine ecosystem balanced. On the one hand, the human's need for those minerals also cannot be denied. Draft of regulations by the International Seabed Authority to manage deep-sea mining are still insufficient to prevent irrevocable damage to the marine ecosystem and loss of essentials spe...
Environmental Problems of Surface and Underground Mining: a review.
Economic mineral resources lying in the earth are necessary ingredients of all our modern conveniences. Its mining yields huge profits for the companies that own them, a source of revenue for the government, and provides employment to a large number of people. Nevertheless, getting at them comes at a price on the environment with externalities such as pollution, erosion, destruction of natural ecosystem etc. Mining affects all the components of environment and the impacts are permanent/temporary, beneficial/harmful, repairable/irreparable, but irreversible.