Implications of Deep‐Seabed Mining on Marine Ecosystems – Introduction to a Special Series of Papers

Chapter 3 evaluates the vital role of the common heritage in the deep seabed mining context. It does so by considering the historical application of the common heritage concept to deep seabed mining, together with the broader role of the concept within international law, including in relation to outer space and other global commons. Chapter 3 addresses the UNCLOS III negotiations, and the emergence of the common heritage approach to deep seabed mining as part of the movement for a New International Economic Order (NIEO), as well as the modifications achieved by the Agreement on the Implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS. This chapter distils the common heritage into its modern-day components in the deep seabed mining context, namely: common management, prohibition of unilateral mining activities, benefit sharing, marine environmental protection and the achievement of a balance between communitarian and capitalist concerns. It also sets out the study’s framework of analysis.

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The Politics of Deep Seabed Mining and the New Convention

10.1163/9789004481886_010 ◽

1993 ◽

pp. 171-197

Keyword(s):

Deep Seabed Mining ◽

Seabed Mining

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Concluding Remarks on Corporate Entity Involvement in Deep Seabed Mining

10.1093/oso/9780192898265.003.0009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 269-274

Author(s):

Joanna Dingwall

Keyword(s):

Regulatory Regime ◽

Mining Operations ◽

Common Heritage ◽

The Common ◽

International Seabed Authority ◽

Deep Seabed Mining ◽

Seabed Mining ◽

The Impact ◽

Marine Environmental

The conclusion addresses the findings reached throughout this study on the role of private corporate actors in the deep seabed mining regime under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the impact of this upon realisation of the common heritage of mankind. It notes that the ISA is facing significant challenges in devising a workable payment mechanism that will deliver tangible benefits to humanity, while also ensuring sufficient marine environmental protections. The regime’s achievement of the common heritage will be dependent on the regulatory regime of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) fulfilling its potential, and implementing a comprehensive Mining Code to govern the life cycle of deep seabed mining operations. The study concludes by finding that, on balance, the regime is developing in a manner that may render it capable of realising its common heritage goals of securing communitarian benefits to humanity, alongside market-focused objectives. It also concludes that corporate participation may assist in achievement of the common heritage, to the extent that it may provide the commercial means for deep seabed mining to commence.

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The Regime of Straits and the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2200905 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 77-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

John Norton Moore

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Law Of The Sea ◽

Foreseeable Future ◽

Coastal Fisheries ◽

The Third ◽

State Practice ◽

The Law ◽

Deep Seabed Mining ◽

Seabed Mining ◽

Preparatory Work

The negotiations at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea have been the most important catalyst of this century for a new legal and political order for the oceans. The conference, together with its preparatory work within the “Seabeds Committee,” has indelibly stamped ocean perspectives. Even without a widely acceptable, comprehensive treaty the influence of these perspectives on state practice will be profound—indeed, it already has been, for example, in legitimizing 200-mile coastal fisheries jurisdiction. If the conference is able to clear the remaining hurdles, particularly that of deep seabed mining, the new treaty is likely to govern oceans law for the foreseeable future.

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