Pelenatita Kara is the National Deep Sea Mining Coordinator for the Civil Society Forum Tonga. She has been campaigning against deep sea mining for over a decade and this is her message to Gerard Barron, the CEO of The Metals Company, the frontrunner company in starting deep sea mining in the Pacific Ocean.
Dear Gerard Barron,
It’s time for a reality check – you are a dark cloud over the Pacific. Your greed to get rich quick is quite dumbfounding. How dare you hold Pacific countries hostage for a few tokens? Your contract with the Tongan government to start deep sea mining shows a total lack of regard to human and business integrity, locking my country in a difficult financial position and opening it up for exploitation.
It means a lot to me to be attending the International Seabed Authority meeting in Jamaica, where governments are meeting to decide the future of the deep sea. It will be the first time someone from a civil society organisation from Tonga attends. For too long, Pasifika peoples who are on the frontline of deep sea mining have been shut out of these discussions. Meanwhile industry representatives, like those from The Metals Company, are always present and lobbying hard to get mining regulations finalised.
The Metals Company is pushing to apply for a commercial licence in the waters between Hawaii and Mexico despite so many unresolved issues and no final regulations in clear sight. You’ve admitted that there’s no way we can mine the ocean sustainably, so stop the greenwash!
At the last ISA meeting, Uncle Sol, a Hawai’ian elder, challenged The Metals Company on the absence of cultural considerations in their deep sea mining proposal presentation. They responded that they hadn’t considered it. You hadn’t considered the millions of people like me who live in the Pacific Ocean? This is exactly why we need more representation at discussions around the deep sea.
You have claimed that the deep ocean is a place where no one lives, which shows a total lack of humanity and regard for the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Ocean. We have called it home for centuries, revere the deep ocean in our cultural heritage, and rely on the whole ocean to survive.
You CANNOT ignore us. We will make our voices heard. I have been resisting deep sea mining for over 12 years and I will keep fighting till you get out of the Pacific. And I am not alone – 827 marine science and policy experts, 27 governments and nearly 3 million citizens from all over the world are behind me.
So Gerard Barron, we don’t need your money. We need our ocean more. Get out of our home!
– Pelenatita Kara
If you stand with Pelenatita, add your name to the petition to stop deep sea mining before it starts.
We need a global moratorium to stop the launch of this destructive new extractive industry. Join the Campaign.