Greenpeace Aotearoa is asking people of the Pacific to share their views on the industry with a new online survey translated into nine Pacific languages.
The organisation will initially use social media channels to promote the survey in Tuvalu, Tonga, Tokelau, Samoa, Rotuma, Niue, Fiji, Kiribati, the Cooks Islands and Aotearoa.
Results from the survey will inform the Greenpeace campaign to halt deep sea mining – an emerging extractive industry that threatens the health of the ocean and the way of life of those who depend on it.
Greenpeace Aotearoa seabed mining campaigner James Hita says, “The movement to halt deep sea mining is strong and it is growing.
It started with opposition from civil society and a group of Pacific countries – people who will face the brunt of environmental impacts from deep sea mining – and is now rapidly expanding to include a number of nations,” says James
“We welcome this chance to hear from Tagata o’le moana and to listen to their views on deep sea mining and how it could affect their lives and communities.”
The survey comes as Canadian miner The Metals Company is winding up weeks of test mining in the Clarion Clipperton zone between Mexico and Hawaii where they planned to pull up 3,600 tonnes of polymetallic nodules from deep.
It also comes as the latest round of negotiations come to a close at the International Seabed Authority – the body tasked with regulating deep sea mining in international waters. To date member states have yet to agree on what those regulations will be.
Countries that currently support a moratorium, or pause on deep sea mining, include Palau, Samoa, Fiji and The Federated States of Micronesia who have led the way in calling for a moratorium. New Zealand and Germany have also recently backed a pause on the industry, while French President Emmanuel Macron this week announced at COP27 that he supports an outright ban.
Without measures in place to prevent it, commercial scale deep sea mining could begin as early as mid 2023.
The survey can be found here
