More and more the interest of big
mining companies is turning towards the oceans, where huge reservoirs of yet untapped
natural resources appear to be idly standing by, just waiting to be taken by the mining
industry. If you have ever seen a picture of a mine on land, and what it looks like when the
men have take their share out of the soil, you can imagine what is in store for coral banks and
seabeds in the future. Mining in the ocean is no more gentle and no less poisonous than on
land, leaving behind a desert, formerly teeming with life and plants, now dead for decades if not
centuries. Although it appears that not much information on this topic is available at the moment,
the problem created by deep sea mining will gain urgency in the near future. Despite all talk about
protection of areas not yet frequently openend to human exploitation, it is in the nature of the
system we live in, to leave no source untapped. Sooner or later, the drills will destroy huge areas.
Read below about some of the things in store. |
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The idea to exploit the huge amount of natural resources in the depth of the oceans is not a new one. But until today, the technology
to mine the deep was considered insufficient to guarantee an efficient and financially rewarding enterprise vis-a-vis world market prices. Now, however,
scientists believe that deep sea mining is the thing of the next century. Vast areas promise an abundance of yet untapped natural resources, lying around for
the taking, with the potential to cover world demands for years to come. The ecologic consequences of deep sea mining, however, are still uncertain. An
intense test in an area 900 km before the coast of Peru has shown in a first phase, that numerous deep sea creatures were killed off while the ground was
harvested for manganese (rich in copper, nickel and cobalt). Seven years after the field test, the scientists found that the area had recovered reasonably
well, but that the biodiversity had declined, and not as many deep sea creatures were inhabiting the area as had been before the test. It is not certain how
conclusive this attempt to learn something about the ecologic consequences of deep sea mining was. In fact, the test was concluded in a relatively small
area of only 11 qkm, leaving the fauna potential room to escape. It is also uncertain what the consequences of sediment and mud will be, which both will
be lifted from the ground in large quantities and, travelling with the current and waves, could settle anywhere away from the mining area, with a potential to
bury and destroy the local flora and fauna. In the next few month, an international convention on deep sea mining, setting the rules and regulations, should
be agreed upon. Large mining companies, however, already negotiate with national governments from Pacific islands about local mining within the territorial
waters of these nations, because the international rules set down by the convention will not be applicable there. |
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| What you can do:
Urge your government to take an ecologic point of view when negotiating the international convention and keep an eye on the practices of the mining
companies once they get started. |
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