Governments are meeting in Jamaica this week to decide how rules for commercial mining of metals on the ocean floor will be thrashed out, but there are big sticking points
Environment | Analysis 8 December 2021
A field of manganese nodules in deep-sea waters near Hawaii
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research
The road to a controversial new era of commercial deep-sea mining is being decided this week by governments meeting in Jamaica.
Advocates say tapping mineral-rich, potato-sized nodules on the ocean floor will be essential to meeting the rising global demand for metals in electric cars and other low-carbon technologies, claiming it would cause less environmental harm than land-based mining. Critics say it will be devastating for marine life and habitats, and happen alongside conventional mining rather than displacing it.
The UN …