Headline: Conference: Deep-Sea Mining

The world’s first deep-sea mine will open in 2018 in the waters off Papua New Guinea, with purpose-built machinery to extract precious metals from the sea bed. In the light of this and other recent political and industry developments, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), RESOLVE, and two Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum (WEF) – Oceans and the Future of Mining and Metals – see this as an opportune time to create a multi-faceted program on deep-sea mining (DSM) with emphasis on transparency, best practices, and conservation matters. In partnership with the Commonwealth, the IASS, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), and the University of California San Diego (UCSD), they are organising a conference to begin seeking a shared understanding of the environmental, social, and economic issues, risks, and benefits associated with DSM. The conference will be hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation at the Bellagio Center in Lombardy, Italy, from 7 to 9 October, 2015.

As currently envisioned, the DSM Program will include three elements: 1) a Global Stakeholder Dialogue Group on Deep Seabed Mining; 2) a Deep Seabed Mining Issues Assessment; and 3) a Responsible Mineral Development Initiative (RMDI) Pilot with Mauritius. The conference is intended to initiate the overarching Global Stakeholder Dialogue Group and establish a framework that supports the additional elements of the DSM Program. To that end, it will bring together a small and focused group of economic and policy experts with key stakeholders from the public and private sectors in order to provide input on best practices for transparency in DSM, analyse the economic benefits to be derived from DSM within and beyond national jurisdiction, investigate potential mechanisms for sharing such benefits, and understand environmental issues and emerging best practices.