The world’s deep ocean covers over half the planet and contains a vast amount of untapped energy resources, precious metals, and minerals. ELI is working to ensure that this largely unexplored portion of the undersea environment is managed in a comprehensive and sustainable way as demand for these resources is on the rise.
To this end, ELI’s Ocean Program is leading an effort to assess the legal landscape for deep-sea mining (or seabed mining) within and beyond the U.S. continental shelf. As part of this work, ELI is convening ocean experts across law, policy, and science to identify key issues, gaps, and potential pathways across five focus areas: (1) permits within the U.S. continental shelf; (2) permits beyond it; (3) fast-tracking; (4) science and technology; and (5) corporate responsibility. ELI is also developing supporting materials—including flowcharts and fact sheets—and hosting webinars to share these resources.
This work is especially timely given recent executive orders and ongoing applications for prospecting and permitting in the U.S. continental shelf under Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and beyond the U.S. continental shelf under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA).
Previously, members of ELI’s Ocean Program also coauthored a policy forum in Science magazine, calling for stewardship of the deep sea environment that sustainably balances exploitation of natural resources with maintaining this ecosystem’s complex ecology.
View the Science policy forum here
Out former ELI Ocean Program Director Kathryn Mengerink has also written a blog on the subject, arguing that now is the time to take action to ensure that these new uses are developed in a way to protect and maintain the long-term health of the common heritage of mankind and the water column above it. She concludes that we must take steps to understand the great unknowns and prevent permanent harm to the deep ocean.
On April 22, 2015, building from the findings of the paper, ELI hosted a webinar that brought together some of the foremost experts on deep seabed mining to discuss this pressing issue. Of particular relevance are the ISA’s Exploitation Regulations, released in draft form on March 13 and open for public comment until May 15. In light of these important legal developments and leaps forward in scientific understanding, now is the time to pause to consider the special nature of the deep ocean and how to best manage it.
Watch the full recording below: