Expos­ing the Risks of Shal­low-Water Seabed Mining

IUCN Nether­lands

With the future deple­tion and declin­ing grades of ter­res­tri­al min­er­al resources, marine resources are increas­ing­ly being con­sid­ered as an addi­tion­al source to com­ply with the ris­ing demand. By fill­ing crit­i­cal aware­ness and evi­dence gaps and ampli­fy­ing com­mu­ni­ty voic­es, the project will help shift pub­lic, pol­i­cy and com­mu­ni­ty atten­tion toward the risks of shal­low-water seabed min­ing (SWSM) and the need to pro­tect ecosys­tems, fish­eries and coastal com­mu­ni­ties from irre­versible harm while inform­ing pol­i­cy advo­ca­cy beyond this project’s scope.

The project expos­es the risks of emerg­ing SWSM based on the case of the Philip­pines where large-scale com­mer­cial shal­low-water mag­netite sand min­ing is about to take-off, large­ly over­lap­ping with key marine bio­di­ver­si­ty areas and small-scale fish­eries. Giv­en the severe eco­log­i­cal and socio-eco­nom­ic con­se­quences there is an urgent need for strong envi­ron­men­tal, social and gov­er­nance safe­guards. IUCN NL and part­ners will make the case for apply­ing a pre­cau­tion­ary, ecosys­tem-based approach that is aligned with cli­mate and 30×30 targets.

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