DEEP-SEA MINING: PROSPECTS AND THE GLOBAL CONSERVATION IMPERATIVES

As the global population rises and the world is transiting to green energy, acquisition of advance technologies and ever-increasing demand for rare earth metals. With land-based resources depleting, experts suggest that seabed resources have become increasingly important as a potential reservoir to meet the increasing demand of industries. However, deep-sea represents one of the planet’s largest and least explored ecosystems, harboring diverse species, unique habitats critical to ocean health and global biodiversity. This marine ecosystem is facing challenges from various maritime industrial, trade activities and deep-sea exploration.

Growing body of knowledge suggests that deep-sea mining may not be financially or economically viable and what’s more, extracting valuable minerals from the ocean floor poses significant risks including disruption of unique marine ecosystems, irreversible environmental damage and threats to deep-sea biodiversity. As we ponder this venture, a crucial question arises: Are deep-sea riches worth ecological ruin? With growing interest in deep-sea resource extraction, it is essential to address the need for international collaboration to protect these ecosystems in-line with sustainability, best practices and their ethical implications vis-à-vis economic gains.

This international seminar aims to provide a high-level collaborative platform to initiate a dialogue among scientists, policymakers, environmental advocates, industry leaders, and legal experts to generate discussion encompassing various opinions/ viewpoints to identify future course of action