NEW YORK, Sep 23 (IPS) – This week’s United Nations Common Meeting marks almost 20 years because the physique first determined to limit backside trawling of the world’s seamounts, which rise hundreds of ft above sea degree and embrace a few of the most biologically wealthy on Earth. marine ecosystem.
Led by Palau and different small island nations with generational ties to the ocean, the next many years noticed a collection of follow-up agreements that expanded entry to extra of the deep sea (darkish, chilly waters under 200 meters ), culminating in an settlement final yr to undertake a treaty to guard marine biodiversity in areas past nationwide jurisdiction.
These are vital achievements value celebrating. However we’ve got been concerned in diplomacy lengthy sufficient to know that these agreements are sometimes only the start of a protracted and winding journey to full implementation.
In the present day, for instance, backside trawling continues not solely on seamounts but in addition in deeper waters, regardless of scientific proof that backside trawling causes extreme injury to corals and different habitats. In truth, the United Nations’ newest World Ocean Evaluation discovered that “fishing, notably backside trawling, poses the best present menace to seamount ecosystems.”
Comparable tales are taking part in out elsewhere within the deep sea. Not way back, the extraordinary stress and near-total darkness of the deep oceans, typically known as the “twilight zone” (200-1,000 meters deep), had been thought-about inhospitable to life.
Nevertheless, technological advances similar to submersibles and remotely operated automobiles now provide us a window right into a world of deep-sea fish, squid and shrimp. It’s estimated that this ocean is residence to 95% of all ocean fish by weight and as much as 10 million completely different species, with ranges of biodiversity much like these of tropical rainforests.
We additionally now know that the deep sea setting is Critical to the health of the ocean’s wider food web, including fish stocks that countless people around the world depend on for food and employment.
Additionally, new research shows that the mesosphere’s staggering biomass plays an integral role in the climate system, keeping vast amounts of heat-trapping gases out of the atmosphere through a process called the carbon pump.
However, as overfishing, pollution and rapidly warming waters continue to take their toll on global fish stocks, countries are increasingly considering authorizing their fleets to exploit the deep sea to meet the growing demand for fish products from the fertilizer and aquaculture industries. .
The dangers of overdevelopment do not end below 1,000 meters. Mining companies have long wanted to extend their reach from land to the deep sea. Today, for example, the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which regulates deep-sea mining, is working to finalize rules to govern commercial operations on the seabed.
It has allowed exploration mining voyages in the Pacific’s vast Clarion-Clipperton zone, where the vessels dig for nodules of nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt on the seafloor 4,000-5,000 meters below the surface that would never have been available without government subsidies. Will be profitable.
As elsewhere, these activities can cause irreversible harm to ecosystems and potentially release carbon that has been safely stored for thousands of years. If approved, full-scale mining could begin within a few years.
Remarkably (and not without irony), research funded in part by corporate mining interests recently discovered the presence of “dark oxygen” in the same area of the seafloor. It has long been known that oxygen is produced by living organisms through the process of photosynthesis in the presence of light.
However, a study published this summer showed that the electrochemical properties of the nodules can produce oxygen in complete darkness. The findings could have far-reaching implications, helping us understand the origins of life and demonstrating the high risks involved in mining.
Over the past two decades, as we have begun to unravel the mysteries of the deep, the wisdom behind the international community’s commitment to protecting it has become clearer than ever. Our top priority today is to fully implement these recommendations before it is too late.
Surangir S. Whipps, Jr. is the President of Palau and Helen Clark Is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
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