As resistance to the emerging destructive deep-sea mining industry continues to skyrocket in Lisbon last week at the UN Ocean Conference, French President Mr Emmanuel Macron has called for a stop to mining in the high seas. Speaking at an official conference side event held at the Lisbon Oceanarium, President Mr Macron said “We have to create the legal framework to stop high seas mining and not to allow new activities that endanger ecosystems.”Throughout the week at the UN Ocean Conference, the controversial issue of deep-sea mining has been high on the agenda with politicians, youth groups, scientists and civil society all called to defend the deep and stop the nascent industry in its tracks.Earlier last week, Palau spearheaded a new Alliance of Countries Calling for a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium with Fiji and Samoa joining the call. French MEP Marie Toussaint also launched a new Global Parliamentary Declaration Calling for a Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining on behalf of the group, Parliamentarians for Global Action, with 102 signatories across 37 countries.Scientists continue to raise the alarm that if the industry were to go ahead, it would result in an irreversible loss of biodiversity and could threaten critical carbon stocks, potential medicines and fisheries for species such as tuna. As the backlash surrounding the destructive industry builds, so do concerns that the International Seabed Authority, the body charged with regulating the emerging industry, is not transparent or fit for purpose. It is now vital that the frontrunners of this political movement take the moratorium call to the International Seabed Authority and other international fora as the year goes on. The world is watching.
As resistance to the emerging destructive deep-sea mining industry continues to skyrocket in Lisbon last week at the UN Ocean Conference, French President Mr Emmanuel Macron has called for a stop to mining in the high seas. Speaking at an official conference side event held at the Lisbon Oceanarium, President Mr Macron said “We have to create the legal framework to stop high seas mining and not to allow new activities that endanger ecosystems.”Throughout the week at the UN Ocean Conference, the controversial issue of deep-sea mining has been high on the agenda with politicians, youth groups, scientists and civil society all called to defend the deep and stop the nascent industry in its tracks.Earlier last week, Palau spearheaded a new Alliance of Countries Calling for a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium with Fiji and Samoa joining the call. French MEP Marie Toussaint also launched a new Global Parliamentary Declaration Calling for a Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining on behalf of the group, Parliamentarians for Global Action, with 102 signatories across 37 countries.Scientists continue to raise the alarm that if the industry were to go ahead, it would result in an irreversible loss of biodiversity and could threaten critical carbon stocks, potential medicines and fisheries for species such as tuna. As the backlash surrounding the destructive industry builds, so do concerns that the International Seabed Authority, the body charged with regulating the emerging industry, is not transparent or fit for purpose. It is now vital that the frontrunners of this political movement take the moratorium call to the International Seabed Authority and other international fora as the year goes on. The world is watching.
