Deep-sea mining: What are the environmental risks and why should we care?

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Companies and governments are increasingly interested in mining critical metals from the deep-sea floor. Metals are needed for electronics and particularly batteries for energy storage in electric cars as part of a green transition away from fossil fuels. However, the deep sea is also home to great biodiversity and habitat complexity that are often poorly studied. Society relies upon the deep ecosystems for a host of services such as fisheries and carbon sequestration. Thus, there is the potential for serious environmental risks from industrial scale deep-sea mining. This presentation will share research exploring seafloor ecosystems and threats to ecosystem structure and function, particularly in the Clarion Clipperton mining zone between Hawaii and central America. Though mining will occur on the seafloor, its activities may release clouds of sediments and metals into the deep midwater that may impact those ecosystems. His recent research has now included describing environmental baselines and assessing ecosystem risks in this realm, that is also more closely tied to commercial fisheries. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) may ratify a regulatory framework for deep-sea mining by the end of this year. Only in the context of the scientific understanding of environmental risks can national governments and the ISA make informed decisions about the circumstances under which deep-sea mining could occur.

Event Sponsor
Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs (CIPA), Mānoa Campus

More Information
Dr. Petrice Flowers, (808) 956-2686, pflowers@hawaii.edu, https://manoa.hawaii.edu/indopacificaffairs/

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