Deep-sea mining: an avoidable threat for the Ocean, marine life and coastal communities

Deep-sea mining: an avoidable threat for the Ocean, marine life and coastal communities

Pathways for European action to protect deep-sea ecosystems from harm

Hosted by MEP Caroline Roose and MEP Marie Toussaint

Organised with the support of Seas at Risk and the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition 

Monday 6 March | 18:00-20:00 (CET)

Room SPINELLI 1G2, European Parliament, rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Brussels

Interpretation provided in EN-FR-ES

> Join us for a small drink after the conference <

 Please find HERE the recording of the meeting

The deep sea - the area of the ocean beyond 200 meters depth - plays a key role in climate regulation and stock exploitation. Species diversity rivals that of the rainforests; and with each new scientific expedition, new species are discovered. Deep-sea mining is a major future threat for the ocean. World States, including EU member States, are currently debating whether to open the deep ocean to commercial exploitation. 

If such exploitation is allowed, scientists have already warned that the loss of biodiversity will be inevitable, and possibly massive and irreversible. This also includes concern about impacts on fish populations, including those of commercial interest and key to the livelihood of coastal communities, and the potential release of sequestered greenhouse gases from the ocean floor and other impacts on climate change. Deep sea mining would ultimately compromise many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals if allowed to happen.

In the face of such risks, the European Parliament has also called three times for an international moratorium on deep-sea mining, followed recently by the European Commission, which called for prohibiting deep-sea mining until scientific gaps are properly filled and that it can be demonstrated that no harmful effects arise from this activity.

Several Member States have expressed their support for a precautionary pause, moratorium or ban either at the International Seabed Authority or at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature 2021 World Conservation Congress, joining an increasingly growing opposition to deep-sea mining from a large array of stakeholders (NGOs, technology and car companies, fishing sector...).

This event, organised and hosted by MEP Caroline Roose, member of the SEArica Intergroup and MEP Marie Toussaint, represents a timely opportunity to discuss pathways for upcoming European initiatives to safeguard the deep ocean from irreversible harm.