Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

in a Blue World

Will deep-sea mining reduce terrestrial mining?

2.3 Social Challenges Many academics have studied the link between mining and political instability 3 . In general, these studies have indicated that the presence of natural resources may increase risk of conflict in four ways: by affecting a country’s performance in other economic sectors; by making government weaker, less accountable and more prone to corruption; by giving the populations of resource- rich regions incentives to seek independence from central government; and by providing financial resources to support political (armed) conflicts. The presence of natural resources can therefore become part of a complex set of factors which may ultimately affect political stability. The contribution of deep-sea minerals to development goals will depend on a nation’s Deep-sea mining is proposed as a more environmentally sound alternative to terrestrial mining for similar minerals. It is unlikely, however, that deep-sea mining will displace terrestrial mining activity unless other policies are implemented. Left only to the market, deep-sea mining would replace terrestrial mining only in those cases where deep-sea mining is less costly and thus more competitive than rival terrestrial sources. On the

other hand, deep-sea mining could displace terrestrial mining if policies are put in place which would make mining companies pay for the full environmental costs of their commercial activities – making deep-sea mining the lower cost alternative. Similarly, environmental regulations which limit environmental damage could increase the cost- competitiveness of deep-sea mining relative to terrestrial mining.

current state of development, its marine- mineral endowment, and other living, non- living and human capital endowments. The key for each country, and in some cases regions, is to determine where deep-sea minerals fit in a larger development framework and whether the extraction, processing, and marketing of marine minerals provides a net advancement in achieving development goals. Countries also need to consider the degree to which they can meet development goals without exploiting marine minerals. In many cases, developing countries are beginning to tap emerging markets which generate income directly from ecosystems. These income streams come from fisheries, tourism, and increasingly direct payments to protect marine biodiversity and the carbon held in coastal habitats. Nations around the world are also finding new

3. Examples include Professor Michael Ross of UCLA and Professor Paul Collier of Oxford University.

Environmental guidelines for marine mining

A recent publication by the International Seabed Authority (Van Dover, et al., 2011) on the environmental management of deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems (associated with SMS) put forward (the Dinard) guidelines designed to protect natural diversity, ecosystem structure,

functionandresilienceof chemosynthetic ecosystems, while enabling rational use. These guidelines call for a network of conservation reserves, which may also be an applicable strategy for protecting ecosystems associated with the other types of deep-sea mineral environments.

117