New risks: Activists taking part at a “Look Down action” rally to stop deep sea mining outside the European Parliament in Brussels on March 6 last year. — AFP
ACROSS the globe, this is the “year of elections,” with high-stakes contests in India, the European Union, Mexico, South Africa, the United States and many other places. But one election that will have a major effect on 70% of the world’s surface has gone almost unnoticed: the recent vote for secretary-general of International Seabed Authority (ISA), with 169 member states.
An organ of the United Nations, the ISA was created by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Headquartered in Jamaica, it has authority over all deep seabed mining concessions worldwide, with a mandate to protect the riches of the international seabed (which accounts for more than half of the total ocean floor). Of particular note, the ISA will decide whether to permit mining in areas containing manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel.
