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Voices calling for a moratorium
Governments and parliamentarians
A growing number of national governments, parliamentarians, regional authorities and other elected officials and government bodies are joining the call for a moratorium, precautionary pause, or ban on deep-sea mining, either in international waters, national waters, or both.
The DSCC is calling on all governments to stand with science and support a moratorium. This includes a moratorium on the adoption of regulations for exploitation and the issuing of exploitation and new exploration contracts, unless and until the conditions laid out in our position statement are met.
CALLS FOR A MORATORIUM IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS
GOVERNMENTS
46 States so far have taken positions against deep-sea mining in international waters:
- Moratorium Alliance: Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Palau, Samoa.
- The President of Palau, Surangel Whipps, Jr., launched a new Alliance of Countries Calling for a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. Fiji and Samoa were the first countries to join the Alliance, followed by the Federated States of Micronesia.
- Ban: France.
- Moratorium: Antigua & Barbuda, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, Romania, and United Kingdom.
- Precautionary pause: Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cyprus Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Kenya, Kingdom of Denmark, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Malawi, Monaco, Panama, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
Is your country not on the list? Please add your support to the growing calls for a moratorium by contacting your Prime Minister/President and urging them to defend the deep.
CALLS FOR MORATORIUMS IN NATIONAL WATERS
PARLIAMENTARIANS
- Palau – has banned deep-sea mining in its territorial waters
- Australia
- New South Wales – has passed legislation banning offshore mining in coastal waters
- Northern Territory – has declared a moratorium on deep-sea mining in territorial waters
- Canada – due to currently having no domestic legal framework that would permit seabed mining, and in the absence of a rigorous regulatory structure, Canada will not authorize seabed mining within its national jurisdiction.
- France – has banned deep-sea mining in national waters.
- French Polynesia – has adopted a temporary ban on seabed mining in territorial waters
- New Caledonia – has banned deep-sea mining for the next 50 years
- Wallis & Futuna – supports a 50 year moratorium
- Marshall Islands – declared a moratorium in national waters
- Portugal – has adopted a 25-year moratorium in its territorial waters
- Solomon Islands – has declared a moratorium in national waters
- Spain
- Spanish Parliament (Congress of Deputies) – has called for a moratorium in international waters and urged the Spanish government to ban deep-sea mining in national waters
- Parliament of Catalonia
- Parliament of the Canary Islands – has called for a moratorium in international waters
- Parliament of Galicia – passed a resolution calling on the President of Galicia to support a moratorium
- United Kingdom
- Tristan de Cunha – banned deep-sea mining in territorial waters.
- United States (state waters only)
- European Parliament
- Global Parliamentary Declaration Calling for a Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining
- The Pacific Parliamentarians Alliance on Deep-Sea Mining (PPADSM)