For centuries, Pacific Islands have been raided by mining interests with little to show for it. Harnessing their enormous green mineral wealth must be done justly.
Plus, why Brazilian women who lived through Zika are avoiding getting pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen to episode 18 of The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Mining is not just a physical engineering process. It requires social engineering as well.
Oceans are teeming with life and are connected to society through history and culture, shipping and economic activity, geopolitics and recreation.
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International law does not meaningfully address biodiversity conservation in the high seas. We risk losing marine species before we have a chance to identify and understand them.
Oil tankers load up in a port at twilight.
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When Julia Sigwart went looking for the scaly-foot snail – or Sea Pangolin – in the deep ocean, they were hard to find. Now they are seen as endangered from the prospect of deep sea mining.
Deep sea mining could supply valuable rare minerals to green technology, but one project in the south-west Pacific is invoking the wrath of local spirits.
The deep sea is the largest habitat on earth and incredibly important to humans, but it faces many threats – from increased human exploitation to the effects of climate change. As this exploitation expands…
Amid global demand for rare earth minerals, there has been a strong interest in deep sea mining.
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Defence behemoth Lockheed Martin’s recent announcement of a venture into deep sea mining (DSM) reflects growing interest in exploiting virgin mining territory. In what is being described by some as a “deep…