![\"\"](\"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sea-turtle-2547084_1280-775x1024.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Photo: Sea turtle, Andresfho, Pixabay<\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s ISA started talks on sharing deep sea minerals in the Pacific, which might be as crucial as danger for humans and green transformation<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n The International Seabed Authority (ISA) was established in 1982 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This agreement has been signed by nearly 170 countries and the European Union. According to the legal provisions, the ISA has a dual mission: to authorize and regulate mineral-related operations in the international seabed, which is regarded as the “common heritage of mankind.” The ISA is responsible for overseeing any exploration or mining of essential resources, such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese, in international waters, while also protecting the marine environment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Polymetallic nodules are considered critical for life, as manganese may have played a significant role in the formation of ribonucleic acids (RNA), which are present in every living organism on Earth. However, the approval for mining these resources comes with conditions. According to Agence France Presse, any organization seeking a contract to mine the ocean floor must be sponsored by a specific country.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Minerals play a vital role in the engines of electric vehicles, significantly helping to reduce harmful emissions in the atmosphere. Some estimates suggest that polymetallic nodules, which contain essential metals for electric vehicle batteries and are located offshore, could lead to a 90 percent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the extraction of ores from land.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The negotiations to begin discussions on the future of the sea floor took about 10 years. Some activists, concerned about protecting hard-to-reach ocean ecosystems, find it nonsensical that there is a mandate to start talks on a framework for using seabed resources.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n According to resource law, each entity that obtains a concession to extract minerals owned by all of humanity is required to pay royalties to the International Seabed Authority (ISA). However, there is currently no consensus among member states regarding the appropriate royalty fee. The values of the metals and the costs for countries to utilize them remain unclear, leading to varying demands from interested parties.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo: Sea turtle, Andresfho, Pixabay The UN\u2019s ISA started talks on sharing deep sea minerals in the Pacific, which might be as crucial as danger for humans and green transformation. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) was established in 1982 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This agreement has been signed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11,15,1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-energy-in-a-nutshell","category-climate-change-in-a-nutshell","category-climate-change-mitigate-technologies","category-healthmedical-security","category-the-most-vulnerable-areas-of-climate-change"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why are seabed resources so important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What is on the table?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n