Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has exclusive jurisdiction over seabed resources in the international seabed, meaning no country or company has legal authority to mine independently. Any attempts to commence commercial deep-sea mining outside of or ahead of an agreed regulatory framework adopted by the ISA is referred to as unilateral deep-sea mining. The United States and Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) are currently engaged in an attempt to bypass the ISA and unilaterally mine the deep sea. TMC’s US subsidiary has initiated an application for a license to mine in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone under the existing US Seabed Mining Code.
The international seabed is the common heritage of humankind and unilateral mining exploits resources that should be managed for the benefit of all humanity. Besides being a threat to our shared heritage and the marine environment, unilateral actions violate and risk weakening international law, setting a dangerous precedent for deep-sea mining and creating opportunities for others to disregard the rules of the sea for their own benefit.
Unilateral mining is a modern day expression of colonialism and an abuse of power where the profit of a few comes at the expense of permanent ecological damage and little or no economic return for Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities, especially in regions like the Pacific that have already borne the costs of extractive ventures. The progress made by Indigenous environmental advocates who assert their rights and the cultural importance of the ocean to their Peoples at the ISA would be undermined by unilateral mining.
The multilateral system is essential for the international community to organize and coordinate its respective rights and duties in a space that belongs to us all.