The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) welcomes a new wave of commitments to a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining at the International Seabed Authority meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. After Malta’s commitment to a pause on July 29, Tuvalu, Honduras and Guatemala made statements explicitly supporting one July 30, and they are joined July 31 by Austria. 

In doing so, they add to the growing group of countries opposed to this destructive, unnecessary industry, says EJF. With today’s announcement, these governments are making it clear that they are taking the urgent warnings from the scientific community seriously.

Several of the calls for a “precautionary pause” on deep-sea mining in international waters specifically note that no mining of minerals should take place on the seabed until there is sufficient scientific understanding of its impact, and until it can be guaranteed that the marine environment will not be harmed by deep-sea mining.

Steve Trent, CEO and Founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said: “The deep sea is central to the health of our ocean and therefore to all life on Earth. By calling for a precautionary pause, these nations are sending a clear signal backing our shared natural world over the profit of a handful of people. We welcome them standing against the rushed introduction of a devastating industry and call on other countries to follow suit.

“No country needs minerals from the deep sea to achieve their climate targets. A circular economy is a safe alternative, and the only way to achieve true sustainability. As recent scientific discoveries of the oxygen-producing power of deep-sea metal nodules show, there is so much we still need to learn about the deep ocean before we even consider mining it. We can, and must, prevent this ecological catastrophe before it starts.”

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