Deep-sea mining could have a “catastrophic” impact in the Pacific, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr said, as companies forge ahead with plans to suck up millions of tonnes of seabed in the hunt for valuable metals.
Mining companies want to scrape vast sections of the Pacific Ocean for metals such as nickel and cobalt — used in electric car batteries — and are planning to ramp up full scale operations from 2024.
Conservation groups and scientists fear this could devastate poorly understood marine systems that play a crucial role in regulating the climate.
Photo: AFP
Whipps Jr said deep-sea mining should not go ahead until more was known about its consequences.
“Please put a moratorium on it,” he said. “We are your partners in the Pacific, and we share this ocean, and we must make sure that what we do doesn’t contribute to our islands sinking.”
Palau is an archipelago of about 340 islands east of the Philippines, and is extremely vulnerable to rising seas.
The country joined forces with Fiji and Samoa earlier this year to push for a 10-year ban on deep-sea mining until the environmental consequences were better understood.
“Can we slow down, take a stocktake of where we are, and really do our part to do the proper research before we do something that could be catastrophic to our oceans,” Whipps Jr said.
Marine biologists from the University of California, Santa Barbara summarized the risks in a paper published by the World Economic Forum this year.
“The sheer importance of the ocean to our planet and people, and the risk of large-scale and permanent loss of biodiversity ... necessitate a pause of all efforts to begin mining of the deep sea,” it said.
On the other side of the debate sit low-lying Pacific nations Nauru, Tonga, Kiribati and the Cook Islands, which see deep-sea mining as a potentially lucrative income stream as climate change disrupts other industries.
Canadian mining start-up The Metals Company is leading the push to mine in the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion Clipperton Zone, a sweeping expanse of seafloor more than twice the size of Alaska.
Last month it announced the completion of “historic deep-sea trials” by its subsidiary in Nauru.
Joey Tau, who works with conservation group Pacific Blue Line, said the region should not be used as a testing ground.
“For the Pacific, it’s come from a history that we’ve seen this part of the world go through waves of tests — it reminds us of nuclear testing back then,” Tau said.
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