On Tuesday, March 31, YCAPS Pacific Connect hosted Ms. Rima Browne, a geographer working in the Knowledge Management Division at Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority, and Mr. Charles Ala'ilima, an Attourney at Law in American Samoa and a Director on the Board of the NGO Right to Democracy, for an in-depth discussion on the state of deep-sea mining in the Pacific region.
While explorations for mining nodules of critical minerals on the sea floor have been ongoing for recent years, but the U.S. president's recent moves to authorize exploration and mining outside the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has brought it into the forefront of discussions again.
The Cook Islands is a sovereign nation, the territory of which is comprised of 99% ocean. The Cook Islands has been pursuing exploration for seabed mining for decades, and has signed exploration partnerships with both China, and more recently, the U.S. The Cook Islands seeks enviornmentally sustainable extraction methods that do not harm the ecosystem and follows procedures under the ISA's authority.
In contrast, its northwestern neighbor American Samoa is a territory of the U.S. and does not maintain sovereign management of its waters. The U.S. is not a party to the ISA and the U.S. president signed an executive order to pursue deep-sea mining for critical minerals as soon as possible. American Samoa's waters, as well as those of the more northen U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have been targeted for these mining efforts.
Rima presented on the Cook Islands' history of exploration for seabed minerals, current efforts, and the science behind their approach. As the ocean enviornment is necessary for the livelihoods of Cook Islanders and culturally precious, the government is taking careful steps to research methods and their envionrmental impacts. No permits to mine will be issued until a company can prove that its mining will not adversely affect the enviornment. The Cook Islands publicly shares its data and reports from its research, so interested people are encouraged to visit the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority's website for more information.
Charles spoke from his extensive experience as a lawyer in American Samoa on the current state of mining explorations in American Samoa and other U.S. territories. The territorial government of American Samoa only controls the waters a narrow distance from shore, while the remainder of the territory's EEZ is under direct administration of the U.S. government. Given the president's push to begin mining quickly, residents of American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas are deeply concerned that permits will be issued too quickly, without proper enviornmental evaluations or protections. Given that the ocean enviornment is critical for human life, especially on islands, and that the ocean is the least understood ecosystem on earth, residents of these territories are deeply concerned that mining could cause irreprable damage, that their home waters will become testing grounds. There is little that territorial governments and citizens can do to legally challenge mining at this stage, but their may be in the future. For those that wish to know more about territorial efforts to slow the rush towards deep sea mining or ways to support, they should visit the Right to Democracy website, and NGO consisting of members from across all U.S. territories.
The next Pacific Connect event is tentatively planned for May. We hope to have more information on that soon!