Underwater mining is an incipient industry focused on mineral collection, usually from the seabed, at depths of more than a thousand meters. Its defenders argue that it could help supply crucial minerals needed to carry out the Fossil fuel transition to cleaner technologies.
They also claim that it is a more environmentally friendly alternative compared to land exploitation. However, this highly disruptive industrial activity in such a remote, fragile and little studied system is not exempt from risks, which are still little understood.
The incipient mining industry in deep sea waters He threatens health, and perhaps the very existence of the communities of the deep ocean. It would destroy the physical structures of the seabed and the ecosystems that they house, would raise columns of sediments that would suffocate the organisms, alter ocean chemistry throughout many kilometers and generate noise pollution in the silent deep ocean.
For this reason there is Millions of people around the world who oppose this type of practices. Many of them have signed paths to stop this madness and protect seabed from the destructive human ambition.
Delivery of signatures against underwater mining in UNOC3
The general secretary of the International Marine Fund Authority (ISA), Leticia Carvalho, received in The UNOC3, the Ocean Summit in Nice (France) from the Marina and Founder Activist of The Ocean and Us, Farah Obaidullah, Two signatures lists against mining in seabed.
Obaidullah, an activist for the conservation of the ocean, delivered, on the one hand, The support of 162 organizations from about thirty countriesincluding companies, museums, art and culture centers, the world of sports, non -profit organizations, schools, universities, groups of women and fishing associations.
He also sent Carvalho a petition with the slogan ‘no to deep water mining’ signed by 350,000 people around the worldwhich is still open, according to a statement from The Ocean and Us. “Given the serious state of our living world, which we all depend on, we cannot afford to open the global ocean to deep water mining,” says the activist.
Both requests, he says, demonstrates the «concern of civil society in relation to the future of oceanic depths in areas outside the national jurisdictions«. Now more than ever, says the founder of The Ocean and Us “we must defend the principle of world common assets and act through international law to protect what belongs to all.”
The declaration and request for a moratorium on the mining exploitation of resources in seabed, «It reflects the collective voice of civil society committed to the protection of one of the most fragile and less known ecosystems on Earth«, Underline the activist. Obaidullah says that “the global resistance – of citizens worried from all over the world and of all sectors – is clear, we must pause and protect our common heritage.”
Remember that «More than two thirds of world fauna has already disappeared»And the climatic emergency is accelerating this loss, destabilizing natural systems, including the deep ocean, which regulates the climate, carbon capture and supports the planetary life.
If the mining Submarine, says Obaidullah, the Mining exploitation of seabed “will cause irreversible damage to the ecosystems of the oceanic depthswill release carbon stored for millennia and undermine the recovery capacity of the ocean just when it is most needed. The international authority of the seabed thanked The Ocean and Us for sharing the statement and said that “the best way to protect the ocean is to have rigorous regulations.” EFE / ECOticias.com