African countries must make their voices heard on deep-sea mining | Environment

With negotiations to adopt rules and regulations for commercial deep-sea mining in international waters resuming this week at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), African countries have an extremely important role to play in the future of this industry and the health of our ocean.

The ISA, as a UN-affiliated institution, was created in the 1990s to ensure that developing countries would benefit financially from deep-sea mining when/if it began, ensuring equity in benefits derived from the global commons. As this debate progresses, Africa finds itself at a crucial moment in which its decisions could profoundly influence the trajectory of this industry and the preservation of marine ecosystems.

Industry advocates claim that millions of dollars can be made from deep-sea minerals. And through financial and royalty mechanisms yet to be decided in the ISA, African countries could reap enormous financial and economic benefits.

But our researchwhich analyzes the total net cost of deep-sea mining for a wide range of stakeholders, including mining companies, investors, low-income countries, sponsor states, and nations involved in land-based mining, uncovered a complex web of risks and rewards.

Increasing scientific evidence suggests that mining would have devastating impacts on fragile deep-sea habitats. A single mining operation can discharge enormous plumes of sediment, significantly affecting light penetration and water oxygenation while dispersing toxins and radioactivity. The price of irreversible ecological damage can be staggering, estimated to potentially exceed the entire global defense budget of around 2 trillion dollars.

And while private companies (and the countries that sponsor their mining operations) may make short-term profits from the company, looming business model risks, threats of litigation, and technological challenges raise serious doubts about its economic benefits. long-term. As new data continues to emerge, we must include the costs of the potentially irreversible damage mining causes in our calculation, especially as humanity faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Additionally, new technologies, resource-efficient processes, circular economy models and responsible mining practices could significantly reduce, or eventually eliminate, the need for deep-sea mining. We discovered that proven technologies and measures could reduce demand for the aforementioned minerals by about 58 percent.

Further complicating the picture are potential clashes with land-based mining nations, where a sudden increase in supply could lower market prices and erode profits. Such implications necessitate an equitable compensation mechanism, highlighting the broader responsibilities of regulatory bodies like the ISA to ensure fairness and sustainability.

In light of growing concerns about the potential impact of mining on fragile deep-sea ecosystems and the true costs of operations, an international movement, supported by several high- and low-income countries – such as Fiji, Mexico, Palau, Canada, Brazil and A Sweden, among others – conservation organizations, financial entities and business leaders, calls for an immediate moratorium or preventative pause on deep-sea mining until comprehensive scientific research can accurately assess the activity’s environmental impact and risks to ecosystems deeper and wider waters. ocean. Unfortunately, to date, no African state supports a moratorium or preventative pause.

For Africa, the implications of deep-sea mining are profound. Countries must weigh questionable short-term economic gains against potential long-term ecological damage. Ultimately, the minerals that lie at the bottom of the international sea belong to all humanity as the common heritage of humanity and raise fundamental questions about our ethical responsibilities. The price to our planet and its ecosystems may well outweigh the short-term economic benefits, forcing us to safeguard the delicate balance of our oceans and nature.

The debate over deep sea mining will persist, but as new data and insights emerge, African countries need to make their voices heard on this critical issue. Time is ticking and the decisions we make today will have a profound impact on the future of our planet and the well-being of future generations.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.