In response to today’s LA Times article “A gold rush in the deep sea raises questions about the authority charged with protecting it,” Greenpeace USA Senior Oceans Campaigner Arlo Hemphill said:
“The issues outlined in the LA Times piece are reflective of broader concerns that civil society has with the direction that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has taken under the leadership of Secretary-General Michael Lodge. The ISA has a mandate to protect the seabed and to regulate any future deep sea mining industry, yet it seems they are only focused on the launch of a new destructive global extractive industry. The conservation aspect of their mandate has been all but ignored.
This is yet another crucial reason that it is essential that deep-sea mining is not allowed: the ISA is not fit for purpose. The LA Times report uncovers questionable practices that seem to blur the line between regulator and profiteer in the ISA, which operates outside the UN umbrella and is not subject to existing UN impartiality and staff regulations. Under Lodge’s stead, the ISA has never turned down a license application.
It also raises the question of whether Lodge can lead a UN body responsible for protecting the depths of our planet. Lodge accuses critics of the ISA of misconstruing its work and overstating the potential impacts of mining but has accepted an environmental impact assessment produced by the mining companies that has been heavily criticized for the gaps in its research. The deep ocean, one of the world’s largest, most fragile, and important ecosystems, must remain off-limits to the mining industry.”
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Contact: Tanya Brooks, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 703-342-9226, E: [email protected]
Greenpeace USA
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
