Last week saw the conclusion of the 25th Session of the International Seabed Authority. Though much progress was made, significant work still lies ahead to meet to self-imposed 2020 deadline for implementing the draft exploitation regulations. As always, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin has provided a comprehensive summary of the overall meeting as well as day-to-day breakdowns of each Council and Assembly meeting.
To provide stakeholders with a better insight into what it’s like attending ISA sessions, we asked the newest members of DOSI’s delegation, Maila Guilhon and Sergio Cambronero, to share their experience attending an ISA Council Meeting as Observers for the first time.
In other news, the ill-fated Nautilus Minerals was unable to find a buyer and will now begin the process of liquidation and restructuring. This is confounded by the fact that Kumul Mineral Holdings Limited, the Papua New Guinea government-backed entity who owns a share of the Solwara I mining prospect, has sued Nautilus for $51 million USD for failing to meet its funding obligations.
Contractors faced significant opposition last month from both NGOs and scientific groups. The IUCN Red Listing of the Scaly-footed Snail came on the heels of two reports, one produced by Greenpeace and one by the Deep-sea Mining Campaign, condemning the industry. Greenpeace also staged a protest at the ISA meeting. As the industry continues to make progress towards establishing exploitation regulations and operationalizing the Enterprise, protest actions from environmental groups will likely increase.
The Deep-sea Mining Observer will take a hiatus for the next month to focus on redesigning our website to better deliver the latest news in deep-sea mining.
