Sea Change

FRANCE VOTES TO BAN DEEP-SEA MINING

On the 17th January 2023 with an absolute majority, the French Parliament voted in favour of banning deep-sea mining in its waters. After several months of working with NGO's and MPs from different parties, Nichola Thierry, the Green MP who tabled the motion, welcomed the vote as a "victory for the seabed and environmentalists" against the controversial practice where massive machines devastate entire marine ecosystems, create large amounts of noise and sediments as well as releasing vast amounts of CO2.

Now the National Assembly is urging the government to adopt the moratorium, but they can count on President Emmanuel Macron's support as he's already made his opposition to deep-sea mining clear, most recently at COP27 where he called for a new legal framework to stop such activities from proceeding. Describing our deep seas (which make up to 90% of the ocean) as "the common heritage of humanity", not only are they extremely vulnerable to human disturbance but the release of greenhouse gases could also pose a greater existential threat. Companies are interested in the metals which could be extracted for car batteries.

The ruling is important as in July 2021, a UN rule gave authorities around the world 2 years to come up with mining regulations, but scientists have warned that even 10 year wouldn't be enough time for them to assess the ecological impacts. In the meantime, France joins a growing number of governments calling for a ban or precautionary pause, including Germany, Spain, New Zealand and Costa Rica. The European Parliament, the European Commission and the IUCN are also backing the moratorium and multinationals like Google, Microsoft, Renault, Samsung and Tesla have also committed not to source minerals from the deep seabed.

Meanwhile on 22nd July 2022 the UK government said, "The UK has agreed not to support the issuing of any exploitation licenses for deep-sea mining projects unless or until there is sufficient evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems". BUT it also acknowledged UK Seabed Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin UK, in partnership with the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy holds licences and contracts to explore a total of 133,000 square kilometres of the Pacific seabed "for mineral-rich polymetallic nodules".

Let's hope the positive outcome in France influences our own government across the waters and we act accordingly ...