Hard-Fought Treaty to Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/climate/high-seas-treaty-ocean-biodiversity-ratified.html

Deep-sea mining entrepreneur Gerard Barron is banking on Trump to help him realise his dream

Gerard Barron whips out what looks, at least to me, like a fossilised dog turd from his jacket…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #ArnaudVagner #AU #Australia #CriticalMinerals #deepseamining #DonaldTrump #fourcorners #GerardBarron #InternationalSeabedAuthority #TheMetalsCompany
https://www.newsbeep.com/110475/

#NPR: The U.S. takes a step toward allowing #mining on the ocean floor, a fragile #ecosystem

by Julia Simon, April 25, 2025

"President #Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at making it easier for companies to mine the deep seafloor, saying it would create 'a robust domestic supply for critical minerals.'

"There is currently no commercial-scale deep-sea mining anywhere in the world. But companies have long eyed the ocean floor as a potential source of metals like nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper, which are used in batteries for electric vehicles and other technologies.

"The world has no rulebook for deep-sea mining. One company is pushing forward anyway

"These metals can be found in potato-sized nodules lying on the ocean floor. Many of the nodules are in the middle of the Pacific ocean, beyond the legal territory of individual countries.

"Thursday's order might circumvent ongoing international negotiations to regulate deep-sea mining.

"Those regions have traditionally been overseen by an international organization, the #InternationalSeabedAuthority (#ISA). The ISA has hosted talks for years to try to hammer out a rulebook to govern a potential seabed mining industry. The U.S. did not ratify the treaty that governs the seabed, and is not a voting member of the ISA, though in the past under previous administrations it has respected the ISA process.

"In his executive order, Trump instructed federal agencies to expedite the process for reviewing and issuing permits for mining on the seafloor in both U.S. and international territory. It will use a U.S. law from 1980, the "#DeepSeabed Hard Mineral Resources Act."

"Scientists and environmental groups condemned the order, arguing that opening the deep seabed for mining could disrupt important marine ecosystems, and damage the fishing industry.

" 'This is being planned on some of the least resilient #ecosystems on the planet,' says Douglas McCauley, professor of ocean science at the University of California Santa Barbara. 'It would have #catastrophic biological consequences.'

"Underwater mining can create plumes of sediment that could suffocate marine life, and degrade the #FoodWebs that fish depend on, McCauley says.

"There are also important questions about whether we actually need to be mining the seabed to get enough of these minerals for technologies like batteries, says Micah Ziegler, assistant professor of energy and chemical systems at Georgia Institute of Technology.

"While a couple of years ago researchers were concerned about the limitations of land-based mining for metals like cobalt and nickel, a variety of alternative #battery chemistries have been developed that might reduce the need for those elements, Ziegler says."

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5376482/trump-seabed-mining-executive-order

#OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining
#DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters #TrumpSucks #Idiocracy
#BatteryAlternatives #NoCobaltMining #RecycleCopper #RecycleCobalt #RecycleZinc #Recycle! #Ecocide #PlanetDestroyers #HumanGreed #NoJobsOnADeadPlanet

If Earth loses its sources of oxygen, that won't be a very green transition. smh

#DeepSeaMining opponents suffer major setback

by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
August 3, 2024

"Opponents of deep sea mining suffered a serious setback Friday when they failed to take a first step toward an international moratorium on the controversial practice.

"Until now, those in favor of such mining—which would deliver minerals key to the green transition but with a potentially high environmental cost—have managed to prevent the #InternationalSeabedAuthority (#ISA) from even taking up any debate on the subject.

"This time, the debate took place, but a draft calling for a 'dialogue' toward 'the development of a general policy... for the protection and preservation of the marine environment' did not advance after a week of talks in Kingston, Jamaica.

"Numerous delegations, from #China to #SaudiArabia to the #Africa group of member states, said the draft lacked clarity and that the ISA's full assembly of 168 members was not the forum to make any decision on the protection of #marine habitats.

"Instead, those countries said the Council, made up of 36 states, should decide.

"Faced with consistent opposition, #Chile withdrew the draft measure as the assembly's annual session—which makes decisions by consensus—drew to a close.

"'We are somewhat disappointed,' said Chilean representative Salvador Vega Telias. Though he believed he had support from a majority of states, he opted to shelve the discussions until July 2025—a proposal that was not approved either.

"Deep sea mining in international waters involves scraping the ocean floor for #minerals like #nickel, #cobalt and #copper, crucial for #RenewableEnergy energy technology.

"Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (#UNCLOS), the ISA is responsible for both protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdictions and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of resources in those zones.

"Deep sea mining has not yet taken place beyond the experimental and exploratory stage.

"The ISA's Council, which for now only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for more than a decade. They are aiming to adopt a mining code in 2025.

"Non-governmental organizations and scientists warn that deep sea mining could damage #habitats and harm species that are little understood, but are potentially important to the #FoodChain.

"In addition, they point to the risk of disrupting the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon emitted by human activities, and the noise that could disturb species such as #whales."

Read more:
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-deep-sea-opponents-major-setback.html

#OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining
#DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters