Oceans envelop more than 70 percent of planet’s surface and are vital for sustenance of life on Earth. Since millennia, oceans have played pivotal role in shaping patterns of human civilization. In modern times, humanity’s dependence on oceans has grown manifold. Oceans are vast, but not infinite, and irresponsible exploitation of oceanic resources can cause irreversible damage to our planet.
To raise awareness about the critical role the oceans plays in our lives and to inspire actions to protect and preserve them, World Ocean Day is commemorated worldwide every year. This year, World Oceans Day is being organized on June 7th by the United Nations’ Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs (DOALOS), with theme “Awaken New Depths.” This theme underscores the need to delve deeper not only in the physical realm of our oceans but to also inquire knowledge and develop understanding about unexplored underwater dimension of our blue planet.
Oceans hide enormous and invaluable organic and inorganic resources. Historically, humanity access to oceanic resources has remained limited. The crushing depths of oceans have always restricted humanity’s ingress to deep sea treasures. But technological advancements in deep-sea exploration are enabling humanity to gradually overcome these barriers, leading to breakthroughs in sea bed mining, marine biology, and deep-sea ecology. Emerging fields, like deep sea mining (DSM), are opening new opportunities to access resources that are becoming increasingly scarce on land.
Deep sea mining involves the extraction of valuable minerals and metal-deposits from the ocean floor. Mineral rich deep sea deposits are commonly found in abyssal plains, hydrothermal vents, and underwater mountains. In abyssal plains, or the flat sea floors, polymetallic nodules comprising iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese are present. Sulfide deposits with lead, zinc, gold, and silver often exists in proximity of hydrothermal vents. Similarly, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts exist in underwater mountains. These resources are crucial for various high-tech industries, including renewable energy technologies like car batteries which can potentially help to decarbonize our terrestrial ecosystem.
As technology is advancing, new systems are being developed which can reach and effectively operate at sea bed level. Although, as of mid-2023, only a quarter of seabed has been mapped by high-resolution data, but efforts are underway to expand the discovery and extraction of untapped opportunities lying in dark depths of oceans. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an abyssal plains region spanning 50,000 square-kilometers across central Pacific Ocean, alone contains an estimated 21 billion tons of polymetallic nodules, with a potential global market value projected to reach $20 billion to $40 billion annually by 2030. Sulfide deposits from hydrothermal vents are estimated to contain around 600 million tons of metal-rich sulfides. Similarly, according to one estimate, about 6.35 million square kilometres, or 1.7 percent of the ocean floor, is covered by cobalt-rich crusts, translating to some 1 billion tons of cobalt. As we venture more into uncharted oceanic territories, it’s highly probable that more resources with promising applications will be discovered in near future.
Despite its potential benefits, deep sea mining poses unprecedented risks to marine ecosystems. The deep ocean is one of the least understood and most fragile environments on planet. Sea mining activities can cause extensive physical destruction to habitats, release toxic substances, and generate sediment plumes that can choke deep-sea life. Given the slow rate of recovery in deep-sea due to limited food and energy availability, even minor disturbances in biodiversity can have long-lasting or even irreversible effects.
Similarly, the legal and ethical aspect cannot be ignored at all. As far as maritime resources are concerned, countries oversee their own maritime territories and exclusive economic zones (EEZ), while the high seas and international ocean floor are regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). International Seabed Authority (ISA) is responsible for deep-sea mining regulations, and has issued more than 30 exploration licenses to international companies – covering over 1.3 million square kilometers sea bed area. According to UNCLOS, the seabed and its mineral resources are “common heritage of mankind” and cannot be owned or claimed by few nations. But the exploration and extraction of deep sea resources by companies belonging to developed nations has raised a fundamental question. Is it justified to allow few nations to get profit from shared natural resources just because they are first to access them? There is no mutually agreed legal framework in place to answer this question.
ISA has been working on deep-sea exploration and mining regulations since 2014 but is still a long way to craft a globally acknowledged framework. Major outstanding regulatory issues include process and criteria for application review of work exploitation, equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits, environmental impact monitoring and management plans, inspection and enforcement rights of informal working group, confidentiality of information, dispute resolution, transfer of technology, and insurance requirements. Given the complex and dynamic nature of issues, it is difficult to predict when these issues will be resolved. For ecofriendly sea-bed mining, timely issuances and enforcement of regulations is paramount.
Beside regulatory mechanisms, technological innovation can be used for developing less invasive extraction methodologies. By minimizing human intervention and increasing reliance on automation the margin of error and risks of waste can be reduced. Instead of caterpillar track based excavators which move over sea-bed, floating robotic mining vehicles and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) can be used to reduce mining footprint. Similarly, remote sensing and advanced control algorithms can minimize noise and light pollution and enable more precise and less disruptive mining operations. As technology will evolve further, more eco-friendly systems will be developed to sustainably harness deep sea resources with minimum ecological side effects.
This year’s World Ocean Day theme urges us to explore the untapped potential of oceans in sustainable manned while recognizing the importance of innovation and conservation. It also emphasizes the importance of fostering a deeper connection between humanity and the ocean. Deep sea mining has emerged as a nascent field of both immense promise and profound concern. By unveiling the secrets of deep sea, we could potentially combat climate change and reduce our reliance on terrestrial mining. However, given the unascertained nature of ecological risks involved, is the fight against climate change worth the irreversible environmental damage to oceans due to sea bed mining? Or rather, can deep sea mining be exercised without damaging the deep sea ecosystem? The answer to these questions must be pursued with utmost caution and responsibility while considering the scientific, ecological, economic, and legal dimensions of these issues. Only then an intricate balance between deep-sea riches and preservation of marine ecosystems can be established.
