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Deep-sea mining beyond national jurisdiction - Responsibility, liability and enforcement of the protection of the environment

Olsson, Jacob LU (2023) JURM02 20231
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Gruvdrift på havsbotten har länge varit ett intressant ämne. Första gången någon hittade mineraler på havsbotten var i slutet av 1800-talet. Under de senaste åren har det skett en teknisk och ekonomisk utveckling som har gjort det
möjligt att kommersiellt utvinna dessa mineraler. Samtidigt finns det många
som oroar sig för de negativa miljöeffekterna. Det är nämligen omöjligt att
bedriva djuphavsbrytning med dagens teknik utan att påverka miljön på havsbotten. Under de kommande åren kommer djuphavsbrytning att bli kommersiellt aktiv, och det är därför viktigt att skyddet är tillräckligt effektivt för att
skydda havsmiljön ordentligt.
ISA är ett FN-organ som styrs av LOSC och som har ansvaret för att reglera
verksamheten som rör... (More)
Gruvdrift på havsbotten har länge varit ett intressant ämne. Första gången någon hittade mineraler på havsbotten var i slutet av 1800-talet. Under de senaste åren har det skett en teknisk och ekonomisk utveckling som har gjort det
möjligt att kommersiellt utvinna dessa mineraler. Samtidigt finns det många
som oroar sig för de negativa miljöeffekterna. Det är nämligen omöjligt att
bedriva djuphavsbrytning med dagens teknik utan att påverka miljön på havsbotten. Under de kommande åren kommer djuphavsbrytning att bli kommersiellt aktiv, och det är därför viktigt att skyddet är tillräckligt effektivt för att
skydda havsmiljön ordentligt.
ISA är ett FN-organ som styrs av LOSC och som har ansvaret för att reglera
verksamheten som rör mineraltillgångar på havsbotten. Gruvdriftsverksamheten kan bland annat bedrivas av ISA genom The Enterprise och av privata
företag, entreprenörer som sponsras av olika stater.
ISA har genom LOSC fått ett miljöansvar för att se till att gruvverksamheten
inte orsakar några skadliga effekter på den marina miljön. ISA har använt
detta ansvar, eller mandat, för att anta vissa bestämmelser som bland annat
kräver att operatörerna samlar in grundläggande miljödata och gör en miljökonsekvensbedömning i vissa situationer. De har också upprättat en miljöledningsplan i ett specifikt område där dessa verksamheter inte får bedrivas alls
för att kunna skydda känslig miljö.
Denna avhandling visar att dessa bestämmelser inte är tillräckliga för att ISA
ska kunna uppfylla sitt miljöansvar. Det finns dock inget sätt att hålla dem
ansvariga för dessa brister och inte heller något konkret sätt att tvinga dem att
ta sitt fulla ansvar. Trots detta bör ISA fortfarande bära det största miljöansvaret eftersom de är de enda som kan kontrollera all verksamhet i området.
För att kunna skydda miljön i enlighet med deras ansvar bör ISA i framtiden
kontrollera de sponsrande staterna mer i deras arbete. Detta skulle göra det
lättare att kontrollera de privata företagen och sanktionera dem om de inte
agerar i enlighet med sitt ansvar. (Less)
Abstract
Deep-seabed mining has been of interest ever since they found minerals at the bottom of the ocean at the end of the 19th century. There has been a technological and economic evolution in recent years, making it possible to commercially mine these minerals. At the same time, many worry about its negative environmental impacts. With today’s technology, it is impossible to conduct deep-sea mining without affecting the marine environment. In the coming years, deep-sea mining will become commercially active, it is therefore important that the protection is effective enough to properly protect the marine environment.

The ISA is a UN organisation governed by LOSC which has the responsibility to govern activities related to the mineral... (More)
Deep-seabed mining has been of interest ever since they found minerals at the bottom of the ocean at the end of the 19th century. There has been a technological and economic evolution in recent years, making it possible to commercially mine these minerals. At the same time, many worry about its negative environmental impacts. With today’s technology, it is impossible to conduct deep-sea mining without affecting the marine environment. In the coming years, deep-sea mining will become commercially active, it is therefore important that the protection is effective enough to properly protect the marine environment.

The ISA is a UN organisation governed by LOSC which has the responsibility to govern activities related to the mineral resources of the Area. The mining activities can be conducted by, among others, the ISA through the Enterprise and private companies, contractors, who are sponsored by states.

The ISA receives an environmental responsibility through LOSC to ensure that these mining activities do not cause any harmful effects on the marine environment. The ISA has used this responsibility, or mandate, to adopt some regulations demanding that the operators gather Environmental Baseline Data and make an EIA in certain situations. They have also created an environmental management plan in a specific area where these activities cannot be conducted, to protect the environment.

This thesis shows that these regulations are not enough for the ISA to fulfil their environmental responsibility. However, there is not any way to hold them liable for these shortcomings, nor any direct way to force them to take full responsibility. Despite that, the ISA should still bear the biggest environmental responsibility since they are the only ones able to control all activities in The Area. To properly protect the environment moving forward, they should use their mandate to control the sponsoring states more in their work. This would make it easier to control the contracts and sanction them if they do not act in accordance with their responsibility. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Olsson, Jacob LU
supervisor
organization
course
JURM02 20231
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
public international law, environmental law, the law of the sea, deep sea mining
language
English
id
9116471
date added to LUP
2023-06-08 12:08:12
date last changed
2023-06-08 12:08:12
@misc{9116471,
  abstract     = {{Deep-seabed mining has been of interest ever since they found minerals at the bottom of the ocean at the end of the 19th century. There has been a technological and economic evolution in recent years, making it possible to commercially mine these minerals. At the same time, many worry about its negative environmental impacts. With today’s technology, it is impossible to conduct deep-sea mining without affecting the marine environment. In the coming years, deep-sea mining will become commercially active, it is therefore important that the protection is effective enough to properly protect the marine environment.

The ISA is a UN organisation governed by LOSC which has the responsibility to govern activities related to the mineral resources of the Area. The mining activities can be conducted by, among others, the ISA through the Enterprise and private companies, contractors, who are sponsored by states.
 
The ISA receives an environmental responsibility through LOSC to ensure that these mining activities do not cause any harmful effects on the marine environment. The ISA has used this responsibility, or mandate, to adopt some regulations demanding that the operators gather Environmental Baseline Data and make an EIA in certain situations. They have also created an environmental management plan in a specific area where these activities cannot be conducted, to protect the environment. 

This thesis shows that these regulations are not enough for the ISA to fulfil their environmental responsibility. However, there is not any way to hold them liable for these shortcomings, nor any direct way to force them to take full responsibility. Despite that, the ISA should still bear the biggest environmental responsibility since they are the only ones able to control all activities in The Area. To properly protect the environment moving forward, they should use their mandate to control the sponsoring states more in their work. This would make it easier to control the contracts and sanction them if they do not act in accordance with their responsibility.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Jacob}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Deep-sea mining beyond national jurisdiction - Responsibility, liability and enforcement of the protection of the environment}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}