{"id":40077112,"date":"2019-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/china-dialogue-ocean-staging.darkbluehq.com\/uncategorized\/9771-china-deep-sea-mining-contract\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T23:01:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T17:31:16","slug":"9771-china-deep-sea-mining-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/ocean\/9771-china-deep-sea-mining-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"China extends domain with fifth deep sea mining contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the International Seabed Authority<\/a> (ISA) convened last month to continue work on regulations t<\/a>o allow the industrial mining of the ocean floor, China extended its domain over the deep sea.<\/p>\n

The United Nations organisation headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, approved the country\u2019s fifth mining contract<\/a>, meaning China holds more mining claims<\/a> than any other nation. China now has the right to explore and potentially exploit 238,000 square kilometres (almost the size of New Zealand) of the deep sea in areas outside national jurisdiction for cobalt, nickel, copper and other valuable minerals.<\/p>\n

To date, the ISA has issued 30 exploration licences to multinational corporations, start-ups and state-backed companies that cover more than 1.3 million square kilometres of the seabed.<\/p>\n

China, which has been one of the ISA\u2019s biggest financial benefactors, also signed a memorandum of understanding with the organisation to establish a joint deep sea training and research centre<\/a> in Qingdao, to be operated by the State Oceanic Administration.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s growing influence comes at a pivotal time for the ISA. The secretary-general, Michael Lodge, private mining contractors and pro-mining states are pushing to complete a \u201cmining code\u201d by the end of 2020 so exploitation of the seabed can commence.<\/p>\n

The stakes are existentially high.
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\n\"Deep<\/div><\/p>\n

The deep ocean holds what is believed to be the world\u2019s largest reserves of the metals needed to make electric car batteries, wind turbines and other technologies essential to weaning the world from fossil fuels and combating climate change. But the little-explored seabed also harbours unique ecosystems and an untold number of rare and undiscovered species<\/a> whose genetic code could be the source of new medicines<\/a> and other biotechnologies. Mining would directly destroy those habitats with an unknown impact on the surrounding ocean and the global climate system.<\/p>\n

The ISA\u2019s 168 member states are charged by the UN\u2019s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) with promoting the mining of the seabed while, contradictorily, protecting the deep ocean\u2019s fragile ecosystems as the \u201ccommon heritage of mankind\u201d. Under that doctrine, the financial spoils of seabed mining must be shared among nations.<\/p>\n

That tension between exploitation and preservation of the deep sea has been percolating for years, but it intensified at the July meeting of the ISA Council, the organisation\u2019s policymaking body. One after another, national delegations took the microphone to call for strong environmental regulations and pushed back against the 2020 deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality of the mining code is more important than any superficial deadline,\u201d Germany\u2019s delegate told the Council, echoing a diverse group of nations with competing interests, from South Pacific island states and European countries to even pro-mining nations like Japan.<\/p>\n

Or as Jamaica\u2019s representative, Kathy-Ann Brown, tartly put it: \u201cThe idea that we can get this done in a year and a half is fiction. It\u2019s not real.\u201d<\/p>\n

China, uncharacteristically, did not weigh in on the debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t as forceful as they have been at previous sessions,\u201d says one longtime observer of the ISA. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything will happen if the Chinese are against it, but they were more in a \u2018let\u2019s listen mode.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina Gjerde, a senior high seas adviser at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, notes that China may not be in a hurry to mine the seabed given its access to significant sources of terrestrial minerals. Chinese companies own eight of the 14 largest cobalt producers<\/a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the source of 68% of the world\u2019s supply of the mineral. China also produces 80% of the global supply of cobalt chemicals.<\/p>\n \n\t

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\n\t\t\t\tAn interactive map showing what could be mined and where\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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