Despite increasing interest in deep-sea mining, there are long-standing concerns about environmental impacts on vulnerable and poorly understood ecosystems. These concerns took on new urgency in June 2021, when the Republic of Nauru notified the International Seabed Authority [ISA, the intergovernmental body erected by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) responsible for managing seabed resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction] of intent to sponsor an exploitation application for polymetallic nodule mining in the Pacific in 2 years. This triggered a provision in the 1994 Agreement related to UNCLOS, leaving 2 years for the ISA to adopt its first set of exploitation regulations or, failing that, consider Nauru’s application under existing international law. We argue that a critical source of potential environmental harm is understudied and largely overlooked: underwater noise generated by mining activities, which can disrupt ecosystems in many ways. |
