Target: Michael W. Lodge, Secretary General of the UN General Seabed Authority
Goal: Do not speed up approval of deep-sea mining and ignore the risks to marine biodiversity.
World Oceans Days has come and gone with the threats to the planet’s seas more pronounced than ever before, from overheating, polluted waters and oceanic dead zones to record numbers of endangered marine animals. A new threat could soon loom large. Nauru, a Pacific Island nation, has asked the United Nations (UN) to speed up a plan for deep-sea mining approval.
These efforts would involve the retrieval of minerals and other deposits from seabeds up to 21,000 feet below sea level. Just one area alone that is earmarked for these initiatives—the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion Clipperton Zone—was recently discovered to be the home of over 5,000 species previously unknown to humankind. Newly found life ranged from glass sponges to gummy squirrel and bear sea cucumbers.
All of this rich biodiversity could be at risk from sedimentary residue and other dangers because the effects of mining deep beneath the sea are still not fully explored. Sign the petition below to urge the UN to preserve its moratorium on deep-sea mining until a thorough risk assessment is completed.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary General Lodge,
Cobalt, nickel, and other minerals important to alternate energy may lay beneath the sea, but the world cannot sacrifice one form of environmental sustainability—especially after this very agency’s pledge to safeguard the world’s oceans—for another. Sediment plumes, water column toxicity, and other potential ramifications of deep-sea mining need further study. Moreover, the impacts on the incredible tapestry of life in the deep seas (made apparent by the Clarion Clipperton Zone discoveries) must be known.
Please do not repeat the mistakes made on land by giving the greenlight to pillaging the sea in the name of expedience, with little regard for the future. Oceans encompass most of our world, and they deserve our protection.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1187 Signatures