On this edition of Your Call, we’ll discuss negotiations on deep sea mining taking place in Kingston, Jamaica.
Rising demand for electric cars and other clean technologies, coupled with the depletion of minerals and metals on land, is driving interest in mining the deep sea to extract cobalt, nickel, copper, and other earth minerals. Fields of small rocks filled with these metals and minerals reside in the deep ocean.
Scientists and conservations say scraping the sea floor will damage deep sea ecosystems and kill animals that haven’t been discovered. In March, Indigenous activists delivered a petition to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) with over 1,000 signatories from 34 countries and 56 Indigenous groups calling for a total ban on the industry. The ISA is the UN-affiliated deep sea mining regulator.
Guests:
Soloman 'Uncle Sol' Pili Kaho'ohalahala, seventh generation native Hawaiian descendent of Lanai, elected official to the Maui County Council and Hawaii State Legislature for over four decades, native Hawaiian Elder of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Advisory Council and Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group, and chair of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Farah Obaidullah, ocean advocate, founder of Women4Oceans, global campaigner with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, and editor of The Ocean and Us
Web Resources:
AP: UN debates deep sea mining as countries and companies now allowed to seek provisional licenses
The Guardian: Is it too late to halt deep-sea mining? Meet the activists trying to save the seabed
Environmental Justice Foundation: Harm done to the ocean is a direct attack on our way of life
TIME: A Climate Solution Lies Deep Under the Ocean—But Accessing It Could Have Huge Environmental Costs
Inside Climate News: Deep-Sea Mining Could Help the Clean Energy Transition. But Is It Worth the Risk?
