The battle for minerals scattered beneath the ocean continues. Since March 18 and until March 30, the representatives of the thirty-six states currently sitting on the council of the International Seabed Authority (AIFM) have resumed their negotiations on the subject of the mining code supposed to regulate the exploitation of lithium , cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese present on the ocean floor. Within this UN organization, based in Kingston, Jamaica, laborious discussions are progressing slowly.
The general secretary of the AIFM, Michael Lodge, nevertheless included an entire session on the agenda for Friday March 22 to present his report on “incidents that occurred in the Clarion-Clipperton area”thus designating an operation by Greenpeace International, which came to the middle of the Pacific to express its opposition to industrial activity at the bottom of the ocean.
The demonstration, announced as peaceful, starts on November 27, 2023 and ends on December 4. The NGO decides to send its shipArctic Sunrise complicate the mission of MV Coco. This 82 meter long ship, flying the Danish flag, was then engaged in an exploration campaign above the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone, with on board an ROV, a small remotely controlled underwater robot. . It operates on behalf of Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), a subsidiary of the Canadian The Metals Company (TMC), sponsored by the small island republic of Nauru.
Freedom of expression and navigation
This is not the first time that this company has carried out tests, presented as campaigns supposed to provide scientific revelations about the deep environment. Gerard Barron, its leader, who boasts of having already extracted 3,000 tonnes of metals during a test in 2022, repeats that he will do everything to obtain a license this year – regardless of whether the rules are established or not. of the mining code currently being developed – in order to start looking for polymetallic nodules in 2025.
As usual, Greenpeace filmed its activists holding up signs against the exploitation of the deep sea – “Stop Deep Sea Mining” – aboard their kayaks and their two semi-rigid boats, and attaching a banner to the hull of the MV Coco. Five of them also boarded the ship. Their action displeased the leader of NORI, who denounced it as “anti-science, dangerous and illegal”.
Alerted, Michael Lodge took up the cause of NORI. As indicated in the document consulted by The worldthe secretary general of the AIFM wrote a meticulous report of the events and took legal action in the Netherlands on November 27, 2023. He hoped to obtain an injunction against the occupants of theArctic Sunrise – which flies the Dutch flag – forcing them to leave the area. But the Amsterdam Court did not follow his argument. She decided that Greenpeace activists should come down from MV Coco – which they did – and confirmed the existence of the right to peaceful protest, inherent in freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. His decision is under appeal.
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