- The President of Palau, Surangel S. Whipps Jr., has been calling for a moratorium — an official pause — on deep-sea mining in international waters for more than two years now, and he continues to reiterate his position.
- Palau has banned deep-sea mining in its national waters, but Whipps says his country is calling for a moratorium, rather than an outright ban, on seabed mining in international waters since the ocean “belongs to all of us.”
- While plans are progressing to allow deep-sea mining to start in international waters — and in some countries’ national waters — Whipps says he believes the world is starting to understand the importance of the deep sea as a growing number of nations call for a moratorium.
Surangel S. Whipps Jr., president of the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau, wants more countries to join him in calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
This prospective industry, also called seabed mining, aims to extract sought-after minerals like copper, cobalt and rare earth metals from the deep seabed. As global interest in deep-sea mining grows, nations have been divided on whether to allow the industry to proceed. Advocates say the industry could procure critical minerals for “green” technologies like electric batteries and provide economic benefits for Pacific nations dealing with sea level rise and other impacts of climate change. Critics say it would cause large-scale and irreparable destruction of the seabed and surrounding marine environment, and that seafloor minerals aren’t necessary for renewable energy technologies and other commodities.
At the U.N. Ocean Conference in Lisbon in 2022, Whipps, who had taken office a year earlier, became one of the first world leaders to officially call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, along with leaders from Fiji, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Guam. Additionally, Palau and Fiji announced the formation of an alliance of nations calling for similar measures. Since then, a total of 32 nations have called for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining — both positions stipulating an official pause, albeit with different terminology. At one point, France even called for an outright ban.
However, these calls have not been enough to stop the industry from moving forward. While commercial-scale exploitation of the seabed has not yet started anywhere in the world, several nations, including the Cook Islands, Japan, Norway and Papua New Guinea, are making plans to mine the seabed in their territorial waters and along their extended continental shelves. For instance, Japan has said it’s preparing to mine by the late 2020s.
Plans are also underway to mine in international waters, areas beyond the jurisdiction of any one nation. Delegates to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-mandated regulator of seabed mining in international waters, have been working to finalize a set of rules that would determine how mining exploitation could proceed. In the meantime, exploratory mining operations have already begun, and one mining firm, The Metals Company (TMC), has said it intends to submit a mining application for the exploitation phase within a year — possibly before rules are in place. So far, the ISA’s 170-member assembly has not officially discussed a moratorium or precautionary pause.
Few heads of state have attended ISA meetings, but in July, Whipps was present at the assembly meeting to reiterate his nation’s call for a moratorium. Another notable event at the meeting was the election of Brazilian oceanographer Leticia Carvalho as the ISA’s new secretary-general, who will take office in January. Her predecessor, British lawyer Michael Lodge, was accused of straying from the ISA secretariat’s duty to remain neutral by advocating for mining companies, and of misusing agency funds — accusations he has denied. Carvalho previously told Mongabay that she intends to make the ISA more transparent and to restore trust within the organization, which many, including Whipps, see as a positive development.
Mongabay’s Elizabeth Alberts interviewed Whipps in August about his country’s moratorium position on deep-sea mining. He explained why he was not calling for a ban on seabed mining in international waters, even though it has been banned in Palau’s national waters. Additionally, Whipps spoke with pride about Palau’s many ocean achievements, including being the first nation to ratify the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement, also known as the BBNJ or high seas treaty, and the fact that 80% of Palau’s waters are protected within Palau National Marine Sanctuary, a marine protected area that prohibits fishing. He did not, however, mention his recent call to decrease Palau’s MPA to 50% of the country’s waters, a position that has garnered a mixture of criticism and support.
Whipps, who grew up spearfishing with his father to gather food for their family, said he believes the ocean should be a resource for everyone and that we need to manage it responsibly through good stewardship. In particular, he said he believes there should be stronger unity among Pacific nations, some of which support deep-sea mining or are pursuing seabed mining projects in their territorial waters.
“[W]e share one ocean,” Whipps told Mongabay, “we’re asking that we do what is right.”
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Mongabay: I know Palau was one of the first countries to call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters. Why was it important for Palau to take this stance?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: First of all, Palau is 99% ocean and less than 1% land mass, so we like to consider ourselves a big ocean state. We depend on the ocean for our livelihood. We depend on it for a food source, and most importantly, it’s part of us culturally. It’s our history and our legends about our origins. We come from the ocean, so it’s very much a part of our life.
One of the things that Palau is well known for, of course, is being a leader in conservation and protection of the oceans, but also, more importantly, we’ve taken a stand on 30% protected, 100% managed. That’s something that we encourage the whole world to do as part of the High Level Panel [for a Sustainable Ocean Economy]. Palau, by itself, started in the early 2000s what we call the protected areas networks, where we preserve 30% of the nearshore resources. And then, in 2015, the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, which is 80% of the area, the waters of Palau, were closed off from fishing.
This comes from our culture of using resources sustainably and ensuring that we can continue to pass them onto the next generation — that culture and upbringing of having the bul. The bul is our management or conservation of our oceans. Our chiefs in the olden days would see that in an area, our reef was being overfished or our forest was being abused. And they would say, “We’re going to have a bul on it, or we’re going to close it down until it has a chance to rejuvenate, to be good again, and then you can go back to harvesting.” That’s what sustained us for thousands of years.
Palau was the first to ratify the BBNJ agreement last year. That’s the areas beyond national jurisdiction, [which mainly refers to] the water column. When it comes to talking about the deep sea, we’re talking about the same area, but it’s just the bottom of the ocean. It doesn’t make any sense how the world is getting together to protect the water column, and then going to rip up the bottom of the ocean. This is going to affect the entire water column. It could affect fish stocks. It could affect the incredible biodiversity we have. Then what we’ve just found out with dark oxygen.
So we felt, and continue to feel, that it’s important that we have a precautionary pause or moratorium [on deep-sea mining in international waters] until we fully understand the impacts of what is being done. We’d like to encourage people to use other alternatives, like going to waste dumps and pulling out those [critical] materials needed for batteries. I don’t think at this time we need to rush into ripping up the deep sea that could have irreversible consequences. And for an ocean country with islands that are sinking — and as islanders — this is something that we need to be very cautious about and that’s why we’re asking the world for a moratorium. In Palau, we banned it, so it’s not an issue for us within our EEZ [exclusive economic zone], but this is international waters, which is something that belongs to all of us as humankind. We should proceed with caution and really remember that ultimately we need to hand off something better than what we received to the next generation.
Mongabay: What does the ocean mean to you personally?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: When my father came back from college, he quit his job. He said, “I’m not working for this copra [processing facility] anymore.” And he told my mom, “I’m just going to be a fisherman.” So he was a fisherman for several years and also took tourists out diving. For us, it was a livelihood. It was what we took to survive. When I was young, we would go spearfishing in the early morning and catch a Spanish mackerel and trevally for food. That resource, that opportunity, should be something that’s available to everyone. I guess you could say that as an islander, it’s something that’s always there. It’s like having your refrigerator in case you’re starving: you can always go there and have something to harvest and take care of your family. And you should never take that away from everybody. That’s why Palau has the practice of the bul to ensure that we sustainably use the ocean, so that it’s always there for us. The ocean is life. The ocean is part of our culture. The ocean is also our economy. As big ocean states, our lives [and the ocean] are very much intertwined. We can’t be prosperous or live healthy lives without the ocean.
Mongabay: You mentioned how Palau has banned deep-sea mining in its national waters, but why is Palau calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters and not an outright ban?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: We would prefer a ban, but it belongs to all of us. What we’re saying is at least give scientists — and us all — time to really study it. Maybe after further study, we’ll all realize that it should be a ban, or [we’ll learn] if there’s a way it can be done safely and the integrity of the deep is protected. Then we, as the world together, can decide upon it. But of course, for Palau, we prefer that the deep sea stay intact because there’s biodiversity down there that we don’t understand and we don’t know the impacts of destroying. We do know that the ocean is the largest carbon sink and disturbing it could have critical impacts on our entire planet. And we truly believe that healthy oceans mean a healthy planet.
Mongabay: I know you attended the ISA meetings this July and August. At the meetings, there was the election that happened, with Leticia Carvahlo elected as the new secretary-general. Do you think that her election signals a new era for the ISA?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: I think one of the critical things that needed to be decided at this annual meeting was who would lead the ISA. We had Mr. Lodge, who was there for many years, but in all organizations, there should be a time that we need change. So having a new secretary-general was important. Second, I think [Carvalho’s election] sent a very clear message that we need somebody that’s objective, that has the background of oceans, is a good diplomat, that can represent the world — and help restore integrity, transparency and good governance so that we can trust the organization, the ISA, in ensuring that the interest of humankind is first and foremost in all that they do.
We really were shocked that Mr. Lodge launched his candidacy again under a different country. First, he was the British nominee for eight years, then served his term, and now he comes back and is another country’s representative. And that just didn’t meet the spirit of why there was a rotational process and why we should have different people leading the organization. The interest of the world or humankind was not being addressed [with Lodge’s attempt to stay in office]; it was more self-interest. We want to ensure that that office is [filled by] somebody that’s there to represent the world and make sure that the interest of humankind is protected.
Mongabay: Do you think that calls for a moratorium are being heeded at the ISA?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: Two of us started with this call at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Lisbon: it was Palau and Fiji. When we went to the ISA [in July], I think we were up to 27 [countries calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause] and after the meeting, we were up to 32. So the momentum is there. We’ve got to keep that going. I think the world is beginning to understand the importance of the deep sea and why it’s important that we don’t rush into something that could be catastrophic and irreversible. The good news is that there’s 10 of the Pacific Island countries now that are opposed to deep seabed mining. That’s 10 out of 18 Pacific Island Forum countries, which is critical because we share one ocean.
If you think about tuna, they’re migratory. Palau is in the western Pacific, but we know they travel all the way to the eastern Pacific. And because we share one ocean, we’re asking that we do what is right. We should really look at things and make sure that what we do is in the best interest of everyone, not just a select fair few.
Mongabay: Are you concerned about deep-sea mining plans in some Pacific island nations’ EEZs, like the Cook Islands and PNG?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: That is a concern for us, because we share one ocean — but they are sovereign countries. They have control over their own EEZs and they have their own sovereign rights. But we would like to ask them to proceed with caution … and really do the proper research to ensure the safety and protection of our oceans for all of us.
Mongabay: How would you like to see the high seas — areas beyond national jurisdiction — managed in the future?
Surangel S. Whipps Jr.: The high seas have unlocked potential, and they belong to all of us — all of humankind — and they regulate our climate. They’re so critical to the whole ecosystem that we live in. And it is a responsibility of all of us to be good stewards. That’s why we signed on to the BBNJ: to make sure that we protect those critical habitats, to ensure that we have the biodiversity to pass on to the next generation. If we’re going to harvest any resource or exploit or do anything, we should do it with the utmost understanding that it does not impact the biodiversity and the rich resources that we have down there. The cure for cancer may be down there. These are things that all of humankind share together. And I think if we understand that principle, we should also jointly protect and ensure that we use [the ocean] wisely as good stewards of what we’ve been entrusted with.
Banner image: Clown fish in anemone. Image by Jayne Jenkins / Ocean Image Bank.
Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a senior staff writer for Mongabay’s Ocean Desk. Follow her on Twitter @ECAlberts.
Palau is the first nation to ratify treaty to protect high seas
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