Editing International Seabed Authority (section)

=== Environmental concerns and climate crisis ===
Environmentalists, scientists from 44 countries, Google, BMW and Volvo, World Wildlife Fund and several Pacific nations, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea, have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining until more scientific research is conducted on its impact on the marine environment.<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web |date=2021-06-30 |title=Deep-sea mining could start in two years after Pacific nation of Nauru gives UN ultimatum |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/30/deep-sea-mining-could-start-in-two-years-after-pacific-nation-of-nauru-gives-un-ultimatum |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref name="nationalgeographic.com"/><ref name="ReferenceC">{{cite web |date=2022-04-01 |title=Seabed regulator accused of deciding deep sea's future 'behind closed doors' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/01/worlds-seabed-regulator-accused-of-reckless-failings-over-deep-sea-mining |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

Advocates for deep sea mining argue extraction of rare metals is critical for electric car batteries necessary to develop a fossil-free economy.<ref name="theguardian.com"/>

Opponents argue seabed mining could wreak havoc on the world's oceans, which act as a [[carbon sink]] absorbing a quarter of the world's carbon emissions each year.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Seabed Mining May Solve Our Energy Crisis. But At What Cost? |url=https://time.com/6094560/deep-sea-mining-environmental-costs-benefits/ |access-date=2022-04-22 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421215906/https://time.com/6094560/deep-sea-mining-environmental-costs-benefits/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Le MV Esperanza (4).JPG|thumb|Greenpeace's ''Esperanza'']]
The environmental organization Greenpeace has raised objections about deep seabed mining disrupting the habitats of newly reported species, from crabs to whales to snails that survive without eating and congregate near bioluminescent thermal vents.<ref>{{cite web |date=2020-02-26 |title=One scientist's mission to save the 'super weird' snails under the sea |url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/26/the-rare-and-super-weird-creatures-at-risk-from-deep-sea-mining-aoe |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910091324/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/26/the-rare-and-super-weird-creatures-at-risk-from-deep-sea-mining-aoe |url-status=live }}</ref> Greenpeace has urged the ISA to further develop UNCLOS' foundational Article 136 principle "of common heritage to all mankind" to revise regulations and set conservation targets. In a 2018 Greenpeace Research Laboratories report the organization stressed the importance of protecting marine biodiversity from toxins released during seabed mining for natural gas and rare metals for photovoltaic cells.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Kathryn A. |last2=Thompson |first2=Kirsten F. |last3=Johnston |first3=Paul |last4=Santillo |first4=David |date=2018 |title=An Overview of Seabed Mining Including the Current State of Development, Environmental Impacts, and Knowledge Gaps |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |volume=4 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2017.00418 |issn=2296-7745|doi-access=free |hdl=10871/130175 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Greenpeace maintains the "pro-exploitation" ISA is not the appropriate authority to regulate deep sea mining (DSM). In 2019 Greenpeace activists protested outside the annual meeting of the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica, calling for a global ocean treaty to ban deep sea mining in ocean sanctuaries.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-07-03 |title=Greenpeace ship sets sail to highlight risk of mining below the waves |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-deepsea-idUSKCN1TY001 |access-date=2022-04-23 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423221711/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-deepsea-idUSKCN1TY001 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the activists had sailed to Jamaica aboard Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, which travelled from the "Lost City in the mid-Atlantic", an area Greenpeace says is threatened by exploratory mining the ISA authorized.<ref>{{cite web |date=2019-07-23 |title=Greenpeace, JET protest against deep sea mining |url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20190723/greenpeace-jet-protest-against-deep-sea-mining-0 |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=jamaica-gleaner.com |language=en |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424221125/https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20190723/greenpeace-jet-protest-against-deep-sea-mining-0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

ISA Secretary-General Michael Lodge said Greenpeace's support for a global ocean treaty, not the ISA, to control deep sea mining did not make sense.<ref name="Reuters">{{Cite news |date=2019-07-05 |title=U.N. deep sea mining body rejects Greenpeace criticism |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-deepsea-idUSKCN1U016E |access-date=2022-04-25 |archive-date=25 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425012330/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-deepsea-idUSKCN1U016E |url-status=live }}</ref>