Deep-sea mining is a watery wild west

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🗞️ Driving the news: On Sunday, a UN deadline expired without reaching an agreement on finalising regulations over deep-sea mining in international waters, which could trigger a rush to the ocean floor for mining licenses

🔭 The context: The deep sea has been considered for its extractive potential since the 1960s, especially areas like the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean

This area contains trillions of "polymetallic nodules" rich in manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt, which are used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicle

🌎 Why does it matter for the planet: Deep-sea mining could have an irreversible impact on marine habitats and potentially disrupt carbon stores that have been locked away for millennia
• The deep sea's diverse, yet largely unknown, marine life makes the impacts of mining potentially unpredictable

⏭️ What's next: With the deadline expired, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) will meet to discuss the next steps
• Countries like Norway, China, and India favor deep-sea extraction, with others like France and the UK holding exploration licenses but not currently supporting commercial mining

💬 One quote: "Vast areas of the seabed might be changed forever, and we can't restore it once it's lost," (Kirsten Thompson, an ecologist at Exeter University)

📝 One fact: The abyssal plain in the equatorial Pacific, over 4km down, contains trillions of "polymetallic nodules" rich in minerals crucial for green technologies

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