Deep seabed mining and how it affects human rights

The ocean plays a crucial role in addressing the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. It provides essential ecosystem services such as climate regulation, food security for billions, and supports human health, cultural values and wellbeing. The ocean is however facing a possible new threat: deep seabed mining (DSM), an emerging industrial activity that extracts mineral deposits from the deep seabed. Some actors are pushing for rapid development of this industry, with mining potentially starting soon, and likely in the absence of regulations, scientific evidence and social acceptance.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), which regulates activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the “Area”), has only issued exploration contracts with regulations to govern the transition to exploitation under development. Meanwhile, scientific research increasingly shows that DSM could cause significant and irreparable harm to marine biodiversity and ecosystems, with limited knowledge or means available to mitigate such impacts. These effects could, in turn, disrupt essential ecosystem services, threatening human health, wellbeing, and cultural connections.

The multiple impacts of DSM on human rights stemming from the degradation of ecosystem services, including emerging jurisprudence, both internationally and domestically, engages on the following themes:

• The right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment;
• The right to benefit from scientific progress;
• The right to health, and food security;
• Indigenous rights, including the protection of cultural heritage.

Negative impacts to human rights are also possible via the way in which decisions are made, including issues related to:

• Access to information, participation in decisions, and justice for environmental matters;
• Protection of environmental human rights defenders;
• Children’s rights, such as participation in decisions affecting them and having their best interests considered;
• Business and human rights, and self-determination;
• The rights of future generations.

To date, these human rights concerns have been largely overlooked by the ISA and in its regulatory development. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Area and its resources are the common heritage of humankind. This means they should be managed for the benefit of all, including through the support of marine scientific research, sharing economic benefits, and ensuring environmental protection.

It is critical for ISA member states to incorporate human rights considerations in their decision making at the ISA. National businesses must also be compelled to respect human rights, with legal consequences if failing to do so. International negotiations at the ISA should be guided by a human rights-based approach, ensuring that decision-making is participatory and inclusive. Safeguards, such as the requirement for free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples and social legitimacy in the broader sense, must be part of this approach. The ISA must align itself with good practices to safeguard human rights, as seen in other contemporaneous multilateral agreements. Without such safeguards, DSM should not be allowed to commence.

A clean, healthy, and sustainable deep ocean is not only an environmental issue—it is a fundamental human right that must be defended for the benefit of current and future generations.