Until recently, Norway wanted to be considered a leader in implementing the highest standards of nature protection. This is not the first time a European country has shown hypocrisy in the climate debate.
mining Marine development, the development of which scientists and activists have long warned, is becoming a reality. At least in Norway.
“Do you know what an open pit mine and its surroundings look like? Now imagine a similar mine, but on the deep ocean floor. Mining companies may soon receive permits to extract minerals and rare metals from the seabed. They weren't yet,” I wrote last April.
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Then Prof. Mariusz Czop and Louise Casson from Greenpeace International explained to me the dangers behind the implementation of these ideas. Norway is doing its best to make it happen soon and is working towards the title of the most irresponsible ocean country. Or any, because allowing the deep to be mined would have a devastating effect on the entire world – perhaps more so than mining out of water. why To put it very simply, underwater mining is technically and legally much more difficult than onshore mining.
First of all, controlling work in an area that is difficult for people to access is risky and, in case of failure, very difficult to control. Second, regulations do not match reality and greedy companies take advantage of legal loopholes to unregulated and subject to international jurisdiction and treat them as waters belonging to everyone and therefore to no one.
First of all, every industrial activity leads to enormous, often difficult to predict, consequences for the environment. However, it is clear that the noise and pollution generated harms the surrounding fauna and flora. Oceanic and deep-sea ecosystems, which are much less studied than those on land, may suffer irreversible destruction, harming the entire planet. Seas and oceans do not exist in a vacuum. And if the company decides to search for minerals by breaking up the earth's soil, like previous experiences, it will have to use, for example, explosives.
“The easiest thing to do is drill a hole, charge it and go boom.” But each such “boom” is no different from a small earthquake, possibly causing underwater stirring Landslides, tsunami waves and other dangerous erosion phenomena, which in turn can lead to the destruction of a shelf, a bay or a group of islands. I'm far from doomsday, but I can say that companies that are serious about anything other than their own profits will engage in sea mining, and they certainly don't care about the fate of people and ecosystems first. Prof. explained. Czop, reminds us that we live in capitalism, not an eco-sensitive, post-growth circular economy.
However, you will hear from the enthusiasts of this project that what they really care about is the good of the planet. Don't believe them. So is Norway, which sees offshore mining as a chance to become independent from oil and gas. It is true that local decision-makers want fossil fuels to be replaced by green technologies, but ones that use raw materials from the bottom of the seas and oceans. So it's like putting out a fire with petrol, or – as Louise Casson put it – 'pure greenwashing'.
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“Minerals will be needed to transition to a clean energy system, but the deep sea cannot provide the metals needed to transition to electric mobility and green technologies. Mining companies use such arguments because they need a basis to justify the destruction of the deep. Meanwhile, many automotive and technology companies that are potential target markets for the underwater mining industry have signed on. statement demanding a moratorium on offshore mining and pledging not to use minerals or metals mined from the deep sea,” explained a representative of Greenpeace International.
But who cares, when the Scandinavian country has the opportunity to become a pioneer in the development of a new, economically promising industry? Well, as usual, they are anxious and determined Against such a decision Environmental organizations, the world of science, as well as the European Union and the British government are protesting.
There is also no shortage of countries calling for a complete (such as France) or temporary (Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland) abandonment of the idea of developing deep-sea mining. Meanwhile, Norway's parliament voted overwhelmingly to allow mining of precious minerals, including precious metals, hidden in Arctic waters.
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The Guardian writes that “although the decision will initially affect Norwegian waters, it will expose an area larger than the UK – 280,000 sq km – to potential mining for companies that will be able to apply for licenses to mine minerals including lithium, scandium and minerals. cobalt. The newspaper also warns that an agreement on the permission to exploit the seabed in international waters may be concluded this year. Until recently, Norway wanted to be considered a leader in implementing the highest standards of nature protection. This is by no means the first time a European country has shown hypocrisy in the climate discussion.
The bill still needs to go through the next legislative stages and activists are protesting in Oslo. The question remains open as to who will decide to take this risk because, as Truls Gulovsen of Friends of Norway claims, deep-sea mining is “pure extreme sport”: “It is not known what is actually hidden on the seabed. The technology doesn't exist and even profitability is so uncertain that even “big deepwater players” like Equinor aren't interested.” And we hope it stays that way.
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