This introduction was developed for the English version of the text. The first part of this article, published in Jornal Mapa, sketched a general outline of this new industry, defining the scope of its plans, the process of seabed mining, developments and shortcomings in international legal framework, with a specific focus on what is happening in the Pacific. In that article, we mentioned that even though the Pacific and Papua New Guinea (PNG) are currently in the spotlight due to these advanced operations, it is vitally important to consider that there are other developments in progress already in European waters. See: “Turvar as águas,” Jornal Mapa, October 9, 2017, ➝.
“Critical raw materials,” European Commission, ➝.
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, “The raw materials initiative: meeting our critical needs for growth and jobs in Europe,” November 4, 2008, ➝.
The SPC-EU Deep Sea Minerals Project, ➝.
“A mineração em mar profundo não é prioritária para o Governo,” Jornal de Economia do Mar, October 2017, ➝.
“Precautionary Management of Deep Sea Mining Potential in Pacific Island Countries,” World Bank, ➝.
“Critical minerals for the EU economy: Foresight to 2030,” 2013, ➝.
It is predicted that over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals, will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, required for achieving a below 2°C future with and estimated increase of 500% for graphite, lithium and cobalt. For more information, see: Kirsten Hund et al., “Minerals for Climate Action: The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition,” World Bank, 2020, ➝.
This has been internationally understood as a form of resource grab and catapult for investments in previous unlegislated waters. As geographer Philip Steinberg describes, previous to the era of industrial capitalism, the ocean has been consistently idealized as a voided space, an “empty transportation surface beyond the space of social relations,” ideal for free trade and navigation. The annihilation of ocean-space, and its construction as a case of exceptionalism in opposition to land-based territory—since it was often not regulated by law—has made of this “free medium” an ideal place for investment and trade.
EMEPC Portuguese Task Group for the Extension of the Continental Shelf, ➝.
Solwara Mining, ➝.
“Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation,” May 24, 2013, ➝.
MIDAS, ➝.
Blue Mining, ➝.
In 2016, there was a new attempt at establishing one of the law decrees published by the central government as unconstitutional, when the Azores regional government lodged a new lawsuit. This request was once again rejected by the Constitutional Court, declaring that the law decree in dispute is in conformity with the Constitution, reasserting the dependency of the regional government on the Portuguese central government.
“Natura 2000 Network Viewer,” European Environment Agency, ➝.
OSPAR Commission, ➝.
Rita C. Abecasis et al., “Marine Conservation in the Azores: Evaluating Marine Protected Area Development in a Remote Island Context,” Frontiers in Marine Science, December 8, 2015, ➝.
“Belém Statement on Atlantic Research and Innovation Cooperation,” July 13, 2017, ➝.
Evoking the notion of enlightenment when applied to the largely understudied oceanic space is a dubious marketing maneuver, as it both revisits the Eurocentric idealism of the scientific revolution, framing the ocean as mare nullius, while it posits much hopes on the fix of the technoscientific and industrial gaze summoned on that conference. The term mare nullius has its equivalent on land as terra nullius, literally, a “space belonging to no-one” which has driven settler colonial spatial politics along the centuries.
“Conference: Deep Sea Mining—a sustainable choice for Portugal?” Oceano Livre, October 27, 2017, ➝.
“DSCC Calls on International Seabed Authority to be more transparent as the race to explore the deep sea accelerates,” Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, August 18, 2017, ➝.
Interview conducted by e-mail with author, 2018.
Associação Ecológica Amigos dos Açores, ➝.
Interview conducted with author, 2018. See “ARTAC,” Facebook, ➝.
“A mineração em mar profundo não é prioritária para o Governo,” ➝.
Cedric Patjole, “Deep sea mining to have zero impact: Nautilus,” Loop, September 28, 2017, ➝.
Jacob Keller, “Ocean Economy and Energy: Opportunities of Cooperation Between Portugal and the U.S.: A Conversation with the Portuguese Minister of Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino,” Atlantic Council, September 14, 2016, ➝.
Amanda Stutt, “Nautilus Minerals officially sinks, shares still trading,” Mining.com, November 26, 2019, ➝.
Cecilia Jamasmie, “Nautilus Minerals’ plans to mine the seafloor sink deeper,” Mining.com, August 14, 2019, ➝.
Recently Deep Green has gained much attention after it made a partnership with the government of Nauru to extract polymetallic nodules supported by Danish shipping giant Maersk.
There have been many calls for moratorium, i.e by European Parliament, the EU fisheries industry, Seas At Risk + 100 NGOs, DSCC, Greenpeace, WWF, among other entities in the Pacific. See “Fisheries and environmental organisations issue joint call for moratorium on deep-sea mining,” Seas At Risk, May 28, 2019, ➝.
Already existing alternatives to mineral and metal demands as proved by a study by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, see: Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, “Summary of the Institute for Sustainable Futures report: Renewable Energy and Deep Sea Mining: Supply, demand and scenarios,” March 3, 2017, ➝.
A recent debate at the European Parliament saw the European Commission and Azorean government representatives question the need for deep-sea mining. Both sides advocated a precautionary approach and stated that critical raw materials would be more effectively addressed through the circular economy. See Seas At Risk, ➝.
A previous version of this text was first published in Portuguese in Jornal mapa, an independent media outlet that covers global environmental issues. This re-publication was selected by Inhabitants on the occasion of their webseries What is Deep Sea Mining? (2018).
Oceans in Transformation is a collaboration between TBA21–Academy and e-flux Architecture within the context of the eponymous exhibition at Ocean Space in Venice by Territorial Agency and its manifestation on Ocean Archive.