As in all issues related to environmental health, the natural world must be a key consideration in the choices we make going forward. We simply don’t know enough about how dredging and extracting minerals from the bottom of the ocean will affect ecosystems and emissions, but the environmental costs could far outstrip the economic benefits if we don’t have a sufficient understanding of the consequences. And the US, by the way, has not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and hence will be excluded from this process. But no rules exist yet, so countries must gather and set standards by mid-2023. The Law of the Sea stipulates that an applicant must receive an answer within two years of submitting a plan, or it can go forward under whatever rules are in place. In July, countries that have ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea will be discussing mining the seabed for minerals such as copper, manganese, cobalt, and nickel.
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