As a small and growing campaign we not only want to highlight the Deep Sea mining campaign but also the work of people through the Pacific including New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea and the growing resistance to seabed mining in Namibia. Below are a couple of our updates over the past year. Please share.
UPDATE: Tuesday 6 November 2012
The Deep Sea Mining campaign launches new report that blows Nautilus out of the water
Authored by oceanographic expert, Dr. John Luick for the Deep Sea Mining Campaign the report reviews the oceanographic elements of the Nautilus Solwara 1 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (EIS). Its focus is on currents and upwelling that may bring pollutants into contact with local populations and marine species. At only 30km away New Ireland is especially at risk, with the possibility of upwelling and currents carrying mine-derived metals towards its coastline. The report find that finds that the EIS seriously downplays the risks facing local communities and the marine environment.
“The modeling is completely unacceptable by scientific standards … The EIS fails to provide the basic information needed to assess the risk of pollution of the environment or the risk to local communities … The People of PNG deserve better. They should be able to feel confident that the approvals process is open and based on the best available science.” – Dr John Luick
View media release:
Oceanographic assessment blows Nautilus out of the water
Download report:
Physical Oceanographic Assessment of the Nautilus Environmental Impact Statement for the Solwara 1 Project – An Independent Review
Campaign against experimental seabed mining ramps up in Papua New Guinea
On behalf of the Deep Sea Mining campaign we would like to congratulate all the local communities, grassroots organisations and NGO’s in Papua New Guinea for their successful petition against experimental seabed mining.
More than 24,000 Papua New Guineans signed the petition the calling for the government to stop the controversial plan to mine the seabed in the Bismarck Sea. It was presented on 23 October to the Mining Minister Byron Chan with a powerful speech from a New Ireland representative, Mr. Oigen Schulze, a team leader of New Ireland-based NGO, Zero Inc.
Only days before students in East New Britain had presented a 7-page petitionto local government officials questioning the need for the Nautilus Minerals Solwara I seabed mining project.
Epic 350km sea paddle to highlight opposition against seabed mining in New Zealand
On 15th November 2012, a coalition of environmental groups, including well known Australian surfer Dave Rastavich (Surfers 4 Cetaceans), will begin an epic sea-paddle, from Cape Taranaki to Piha. Their goal is to raise awareness of intertwined issues of seabed mining and the plight of the critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin.
As a prelude to the paddle, Phil McCabe, spokesperson for Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) is currently walking the stretch of 150 km stretch of coastline with his partner and their 11 year old daughter to raise awareness and engage with the diverse communities along the way. You can follow his walk and the work of KASM on their facebook page and website.
Please view the Deep Sea mining campaign solidarity message to KASM here.
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UPDATE: Wednesday 20 June 2012
It is the shareholder meeting of deep seabed miner Nautilus Minerals in Toronto, Canada today. You can visit out website to see our media release Nautilus seabed mining experiment falters. There will be activists from the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network in Toronto handing out a flyer to shareholders as they go into the meeting – many thanks to their wonderful support!
Also this week Pacific women have been taking to the streets at the Rio+20, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to highlight. Check out the photo of the banner they have been parading around Rio, Brazil, and media articles here and here.
Out Namibian friends from Swakopmund Matters have also been busy connecting with Kiwis Against Seabed Mining to find out more about New Zealand company, Chatham Resources and their proposal to mine the seabed in Namibia. Along with New Zealand, Australia is also a culprit in trying to destroy the seabeds in Namibia. Swakopmund Matters have written a letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Environment Minister Tony Burke to highlight community concerns about Minemakers and UCL who also want to mine Namibia’s seabeds.
While we all know we have a long way to go to stop seabed mining we can gain strength in knowing that we have a growing unity and solidarity across the globe.
PS: The insidious nature of companies like Nautilus Minerals was ever present again for me this week. The Australian Museum in Sydney have a new Deep Oceans exhibit. I was really excited to see an exhibit that was set up for young people to learn about the importance of our ocean floors. Sadly on my exit from the exhibit I saw the sponsor board, Nautilus Minerals was a sponsor along with Neptune! Don’t worry we won’t be letting this one slip by we shall be writing a letter to the museum.
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UPDATE: Friday 8 June 2012
You can see the media release we put out for World Oceans Day against seabed mining. To our friends in PANG (Fiji), Act Now PNG, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (New Zealand), and our new friends from Swakopmund Matters in Namibia we made reference to your good work at the end of the release.
We recently created a new graphic and the team at the Pacific Network on Globalisation have used it to make Stop Experimental Seabed Mining t-shirts, check them out! PANG campaigner, Lice Cokanasiga said that there is a batch (and a banner) going the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
Also in the media today were some comments from Charles Roche, (Mineral Policy Institute, Australia) opposing the industry.
