When Suleiman Kahwahlala arrived in Jamaica in mid -March to attend a meeting of the International Sea Foundation, he felt the moment on his shoulders.
The United Nations Agency in the midst of the drafting regulations to govern a new mining industry in the depths of the seas that involve the stripping of metal deposits from the ocean floor, and is often referred to as nodules. But after three years of invitation on behalf of the indigenous peoples, none of the recommendations of Kahoʻohahalaa or his colleagues have been merged in the latest proposal.
“It was frustrated and discouraged for us to completely reject him,” said Kahhhhhalla, a Hawaiian citizen from Lanai Island in Hawaii. “There was no choice for us except for providing our best cases.”
On the first day of the assembly for two weeks, Kahwahhalaa urged representatives of the nation -state that gathered at the headquarters of the International Sea Football Authority to consider the views of the original peoples. For surprise, many actors agreed with him.
By the time from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean the following week, Kahoʻohahahala’s hair with comfort and hope. ISA agreed to grant him and other indigenous defenders until 2026 to reach other recommendations. Moreover, the International Sea Football Authority rejected a request from the country of the Pacific Island in Noro, Micronesia, to establish an operation to evaluate its request to extract the high seas, and repeat the commitment of the previous authority to end the mining regulations before allowing mining in the sea.
“This was very big,” said Kahoʻohahahalaa.
But Kahoʻohahahalaa has never left Jamaica than he heard the news: The Minerals Company, a mining company at the Canadian Sea, announced that it is working with the Trump administration to circumvent the international organizational process and follow -up mining on the high seas under the United States Law 1980.
Gerard Baron, CEO of Minerals, said the company believes that it has sufficient knowledge of environmental risk management. They are planning to submit applications to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide for the deep seas during the next three months.
“We have encouraged the increasing recognition of Washington that the nodules represent a strategic opportunity for America – and we are urgent,” He said.
This step launched harsh criticism from More than 40 national countriesFrom the United Kingdom to China. Leticia Carvalho, Secretary -General of the International Foundation of the Sea, He said that The international law of the sea that grants the agency’s mining authority on the high seas “remains the only legal framework recognized globally.” In other words, the United States does not have the right to allow mining at the sea floor beyond its national borders.
“Any unilateral action that would violate international law and directly undermine the basic multilateral principles, the peaceful use of oceans and the collective ruling framework that was established under the American Diseases Law.”
The American Congress agreed The bottom of the depths As a temporary procedure for the rule of the sea floor mining on the high seas “until an international system is valid”, according to the analysis of Congress Research Service. Two years later, the United Nations Conference on the purchase of the seas was adopted, putting the International Sea Flood Authority. However, the United States did not expect the United Nations Agreement of Law, and although there are no companies that started mining under the 1980 law, it remains American law.
Baron at the Metal Company Responding to Carvalho and other critics The reality is the “commercial industry is not welcome in ISA”.
“The authority is affected by a faction of countries allied with environmental NGOs that see the mining industry in the depths of the seas as” another green cup “,” a clear structure to kill the commercial industry and leave the aspirations and rights of developing countries that took private companies’ initiative as a road on the road. “
Supporters of mining in the depths of the seas, such as Baron, asserts that the sea bottom mining will provide CobaltMengenis and other important minerals for making batteries for electric cars and can accelerate the global transmission of invasive energy -powered cars that pollute carbon dioxide to the vehicles operating with batteries.
But many scientists and environmental protection preachers have raised strong objections to the industry that would strip large areas of the ocean floor, killing rare marine creatures and removing indispensable nodules and which lasted millions of years. The environmental opposition that Baron describes comes from a group of groups including Greenpece To enable him to participate.
The same players are expected to participate in the US statement, which will require general reviews and environmental reviews. During the Obama administration, the Biological Diversity Center prosecution The National Cover of Oceanic Cover to give a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Specific Exploration of Deep Mining Display in the Claarion-Clipperton area, which is an area rich in southern Hawaiian doctrines. Trump’s first management It reached a secret settlement With a non -profit environment that requires the federal government to make an environmental impact statement before any Lockheed licenses continue.
Miko Sakashita, a lawyer at the Biodiversity Center, said that the settlement requires in addition to that they have been published any proposed licenses on the sea floor on Regulations The audience gave the opportunity for weight.
NOAA spokeswoman Mourin Olier Modern employment discounts It may affect the permit, but confirmed mining applications will undergo an examination.
She said: “This process guarantees a comprehensive review of the environment, consultations between agencies and the opportunity to suspend.”
Kahoauhalahala is still struggling with what this new path is on mining at the sea floor, but he said that he was concerned that he would be able to mining close to his home in Hawaii, where the industry was proactively banned under the state law.
The transformation of the minerals in the strategy reflects the success of Kahoʻohahahalaa and other defenders of the indigenous and environmental population in ISA, but it also emphasizes the commitment by players in the industry to search for the most suitable track for marketing. Indeed, the Metal Company has spent more than half a billion dollars on research, and the New York Times informed the company that the company is both low criticism and has a limited borrowing capacity. The CEO of the company company said in his initial public statement that he believes that the United States will give the company a “fair hearing.”
But the depths of the depths of the seas are afraid that the company will affect the Trump administration, which was received Executive order weight To track the seafood mining industry, it has a long -term pattern of fast pipelines and other extractive projects despite environmental concerns.
There is also a matter of what it means that the United States emphasizes controlling international waters in challenging international law for decades.
“This attempt to bypass international law fall into mysterious waters,” Sakashita said. “Mining in the sea must be outside the national borders without permission from the International Sea Football Commission illegal. Although the Law of Seas Mining in the United States claims to have available licenses, it cannot be used as a poor international law that applies to the high seas.”
Although it is unclear what will happen after that with the deep mining permit in NOAA, Kahohalahahala has not stopped his invitation since he left Jamaica. He flew directly to the French Polinisia, where he helped Urge To sign a message that opposes the depths of the seas. Kahoʻohahalaa is now preparing to fly in France in June for the United Nations ocean conference to continue ensuring that his community continues to be seriously fears.
“The timing of this meeting places it at a time when the ocean is truly embarrassed,” he said. “We cannot miss this opportunity.”
