The International Marine Fund Authority (ISA) is an International Autonomous Organization established by virtue of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (CNUDM) and the 1994 Agreement regarding the application of part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of the 1994 Agreement.
ISA is the organization through which the States parties to the CNUDM organize and control all activities related to mineral resources in the area, for the benefit of humanity as a whole. This way, ISA has the mandate to guarantee Effective Marine Environment Protection against the harmful effects that can be derived from the activities related to deep seabed.
It was created On November 16, 1994, after the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (CNUDM) and its headquarters is in Kingston (Jamaica). In June 1996, it began to operate fully as an International Autonomous Organization, occupying the facilities previously used by the United Nations Office for the Law of the Sea in Kingston. Your next meeting begins today.
Mining exploitation at sea bottom
The 30th Session of the International Marine Funds Authority (ISA, in its acronym in English), which begins today in Kingston (Jamaica), is the first of the new general secretary, Leticia Carvalho, a scientist whose appointment provides the opportunity to reorient the ISA approach to stop giving priority to the interests of the seabed mining industry and focuses on her mandate to protect the seabed for all. [1][2]
In strong contrast to Carvalho’s scientific approach, delegates are forced to address the threat of The Metals Company (TMC) to present in June The first mining request for deep waters in the world in international seabed without any norm or regulation in force.
In this meeting, TMC asks governments to give certainty to the regulations and that, despite the growing winds against, give green light at the beginning of underwater mining.
“The industry Minera de Aguas Dear is falling apart and resorts to increasingly desperate tactics As the support of governments and investors loses. In recent weeks it has been demonstrated again and again that companies are not fulfilling their promises and are reducing their plans before even starting. There has never been a better time for governments to take decisive measures to protect the ocean from this staggering and risky industry, ”said Marta Martín-Borregón.
The seabed mining industry faces important challenges due to lack of financial support, the lack of shipping of ships and the delays in the construction of their equipment; The results of mining evidence do not support industry statements about their low damage; The growing general distrust in its viability.
Las New battery chemicals move away from minerals found in seabedmore evidence that the opening of the ocean border will not stop or reduce the land mining of nickel and cobalt, and the improbability of obtaining green light from governments in the ISA to operate.
First request for exploitation in the seabed
Earl this year, TMC resigned from a third of its exploration areasn for underwater mining in the northeast of the Pacific Oceananother sign of an industry that wobbles.
Next to the threat of the first request for commercial mining exploitation of history, Submarine mining contractors have sent a joint letter to the ISA Council complaining that they have spent 2,000 million dollars and, nevertheless, governments have not finished the Mining Code. The letter was questioned by indigenous representatives attending ISA.
Marta Martín-Borregón adds: «Deep water mining companies seem to be confused about the role of ISA. Governments are not gathered here to protect the interests of companiesbut to cooperate on how to preserve the ocean for future generations. The only way to respond responsibly to these dangerous threats is to launch a moratorium.
Thirty -two governments have expressed its opposition to the beginning of underwater mining and have requested a moratorium on the international authority of seabed in 2025.