Many coastal communities have strong cultural and historic ties to the oceans. Respecting these connections while benefiting from marine resources is something that many industries must manage, from fishing to tourism, from shipping to offshore oil and gas.
Deep sea mining activities must be respectful of cultural heritage through engagement with any and all communities that are geographically linked to the resource areas where mineral harvesting is taking place. All deep sea mining will detect tangible cultural heritage (e.g. a ship wreck) and should avoid disturbing the wreckage. The draft ISA mining code, for example, contains a section specifically devoted to regulating these issues.
Because the ecological forces that lead to the development of seabed mineral resources like polymetallic nodules only occur at depth, deep sea mining of polymetallic nodules will be a hundred or more miles (~160km) away from any land mass, at depths of between 2.5 and 4 miles (4-6km). International waters are typically thousands of miles or kilometers away from any habitable landmass.
Every day, land-based mining results in immediate and devastating consequences by displacing communities, destroying ecosystems, and violating the human rights of Indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with these lands for generations. These impacts are direct, visible, and culturally irreparable. Deep-sea mining offers the opportunity to replace those mines with sources in distant, uninhabited parts of the ocean’s abyssal plains that lack the immediate cultural and human toll that we see on land. Protecting living cultures and human dignity must take priority. See more on the blog post: Illegal Land-Based Mining Consequences and How Deep Sea Minerals Can Help.
