Which begs the question why the Papua New Guinean government, and other governments of the Pacific, are not listening to local communities who also want a moratorium on seabed mining.

In the case of Solwara 1, Papua New Guinea’s environmental approvals process has failed to protect the health of the marine environment, the livelihoods and well-being of coastal communities, and fisheries of national and regional economic importance. This sets a frightening precedent in regard to the many DSM projects set to take off in the Pacific region.

There is one thing you can do today make sure you sign the Pacific Network on Globalisation petition to Stop Deep Sea Mining

Listen to Dr. Helen Rosenbaum author of Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea and Wence Magun, national coordinator for Mas Kagin Tapani (Stewards of the Sea) in Papua New Guinea talking about the potential impacts of deep sea mining on precious marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

Thanks to Jessie Boylan, Earth Matters 3CR http://podcast.3cr.org.au/pod/3CRCast-2012-02-19-82693.mp3 ]]> http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org/listen-to-the-deep-sea-mining-campaign-on-earth-matters/feed/ 0 http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org/120215mr/ http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org/120215mr/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:52:11 +0000 admin http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org/?p=198 Wednesday 15 February 2012

NGO’s across the Pacific, criticise The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s (SOPAC) proposal for a legislative and regulatory framework for deep sea mineral exploration and mining.

With Nautilus Mineral’s Solwara 1 project in PNG scheduled to start mining in 2013, there is a growing international alliance of NGO’s and civil society pushing for a halt to this latest display of greed.

Effrey Dademo, ACT NOW! PNG Program Manager, said, “The drafting of laws to facilitate experimental deep seabed mining disenfranchises Pacific peoples’ who have not yet made an informed decision on whether they want to be the guinea pigs for this industry.”

“SOPAC has not consulted or gained consent from local communities in PNG, some of which have been resisting against Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 project since 2008. Landowners under their customary rights do take claim to resources not just on land but also the sea.”

Wences Magun, national coordinator for Mas Kagin Tapani in Papua New Guinea said, “Our coastal and offshore island people depend on our marine resources for survival. It is our “supermarket”. Any negative impact caused to the marine environment will have detrimental negative impact on our lives and the lives of our descendants.

“Destroy it and you destroyed us. We stand by the famous wisdom saying: “Prevention is better than cure” and therefore we call on all parties including SOPAC to stop Nautilus from sea bed mining in our oceans.”

As well as facilitating the voices of growing local community concerns about the lack of consultation by corporations, national governments and bodies like SOPAC, the NGO’s are also calling for the precautionary principle to be adhered to.

Dr. Helen Rosenbaum, campaign coordinator for the Deep Sea Mining campaign in Australia and author of Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea said, “The precautionary principle is notably absent in some of the policy documents we are seeing. We are concerned that SOPAC is not truly independent enough to be guided by the principle even though scientists and regulators have called for this to be the underlying principle behind any discussion and framing of regulation and legislation.”

“The precautionary principle states that if a development has a risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on the developers. In the case of the Solwara 1 project case it would be Nautilus and the PNG government.”

Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, editor of the Out of out of Our Depth report said, “It is clear that Nautilus cannot meet the precautionary principle. The company has admitted, for example, not being able to conduct basic toxicity testing on the deep sea species that will be directly and indirectly affected.”

John Chitoa, Bismarck Ramu Group said, “Even if good laws are in place for deep sea mining in the Pacific do we even have the human resources or the capacity in managing it. Without enforcement we end up with indigenous communities suffering like they have in PNG at the hands of the worlds largest mining companies like BHP Billiton (Ok Tedi and the destruction of the Fly River) and Rio Tinto (Panguna and the war in Bougainville).

“If this supposed new “frontier” is to start – the entrenchment of deep sea mining in the Pacific, an unsustainable industry – we would be certainly sealing the fate of local communities in the Pacific, and humanity as a whole, for the worst.”

You can download the Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea report here
 
SIGN THE PETITION to stop deep sea mining in the Pacific

For a high resolution version of the report please contact
natalie.lowrey[at]gmail.com

MEDIA RELEASE: Report details unacceptable impacts from deep sea mining by Canada’s Nautilus

Overview

Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals Inc. (Nautilus) is set to embark on the unprecedented extraction of metals from the sea floor. The mining project, known as the Solwara 1 project, will extract gold and copper from the floor of the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea. It is the first of a potentially large number of deep sea mining projects within the Bismarck Sea and wider Pacific Region.

The focus of deep sea mining (DSM) is the deposits laid down over thousands of years around underwater hot springs, or hydrothermal vents. Nautilus has secured or is in the process of applying for the exploration rights to 534,000 km2 of the sea floor in PNG, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Zealand. Many other companies are waiting to see how Nautilus fares before taking the plunge themselves.

Being the world’s first commercial DSM operation, there is a high level of uncertainty about the risks posed to marine environments and communities. What is certain is that impacts will be associated with each step of the mining process.

Sea floor volcanic systems, deep sea ecosystems and the spread of pollution from deep sea mining are not well understood. Thus, it’s not possible to predict the impacts of any individual DSM project, let alone the cumulative impacts of the many DSM projects proposed for the Bismark Sea and throughout the Pacific.

Because of these uncertainties, the Solwara 1 project establishes a frightening precedent – the company has been granted a 20 year mining lease on the basis of a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS). Furthermore, no studies of social, cultural, health or economic impacts have been conducted by either the Government of Papua New Guinea or Nautilus. In nearby communities confusion reigns – with the notable absence of free and informed prior consent (FPIC) regarding the project.

The development of regulatory frameworks for DSM is a priority before the deep sea meets with the ‘gold rush’ that is set to ensue. Such frameworks must incorporate the voice and concerns of communities and civil society representatives, must mandate FPIC, and must be based on rigorous and independently validated studies of the environmental, cultural, economic, health and social impacts of any proposed project. Furthermore, cumulative effects must be considered in regard to each of these dimensions as each individual project seeks approval.